


Hallelujah

by NemesisNyx



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-28
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-09-01 14:23:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 16
Words: 30,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16766878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NemesisNyx/pseuds/NemesisNyx
Summary: Bickslow and Lucy forever lol[Special thanks to Varalisse, my editor]





	1. Chapter 1

Bickslow was a bored eleven-year old. He had been wandering Fiore for a while now. And so far, nothing was interesting, he had picked up his first soul though so that was cool at least. But he really wanted a human interaction that wasn’t getting food or payment or offering to work for shelter.

“Damn, this yard is huge.” Bickslow murmured to Pappa –his only totem. He had been wandering in this yard, for it was clearly somebody’s yard, for at least an hour. “Who would have a yard this big and why?”

Pappa just did the totem’s version of a shrug. “Who knows?” The totem supplied.

Bickslow shrugged and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Maybe they’ll need help keeping the yard in order?” He mused.

“Maybe. Couldn’t hurt to ask.” Pappa answered.

Bickslow shrugged again.

#

Six-year old Lucy was bored. She had been cooped up in the mansion for far too long in her six-year old opinion. She didn’t know it, but it was her mother’s opinion as well. To stop the possible temper tantrum Layla knew her daughter would throw if kept around tutors for too long, Layla had dragged her daughter to the solarium to practice needle point. It was actually where Layla was sitting watching her daughter run around the small room.

“Mama, why can’t I go play outside?” Lucy sighed as she plopped down at her mother’s feet.

“Because it is too windy outside, dear.” Layla explained kindly.

“But I’m so bored!” Lucy really wished she had other children to play with. But she was the only child for miles around.

“I know, sweetie.” Layla sighed as she rubbed her daughter’s head. It was bad enough that Jude didn’t let their little girl go to a public school but to not allow other children near at all? It was a travesty. And could possibly stunt Lucy’s socialization growth. “Why don’t we move to the library? I can read to you from your favorite book?” Layla was hoping Lucy would take the distraction.

Lucy did, her head snapped up and her eyes shone. “Really? You’ll read to me about Leo? And Virgo? And all the other Zodiacs that you don’t have?”

Lucy jumped up, bouncing around in her excitement.

Layla laughed at her daughter’s antics. “Yes. I’ll read to you about all the Zodiacs that I don’t have.”

“Yay!” Lucy shouted, throwing her tiny fist in the air in her excitement.

Holding hands and giggling in excitement, Layla and her daughter headed towards the library.

#

“Holy fucking ass crackers.” Bickslow breathed as he crested a hill and saw the biggest house he had ever seen.

"Seconded.” Pappa said in what could only be construed as awe for the totem.

“That is the biggest house I’ve ever seen.” Bickslow looked at Pappa.

“Me too.” Pappa had died an old, old man and he had never seen a house this large.

“How many people do you think live there?” Bickslow asked, sitting down on the ground so he could stare at the bold edifices of the building.

“Well, I’m counting at least twenty rooms and that’s just one side of the house.” Pappa stated. “Maybe it’s a school?”

“Do you think it’s a school for people like me?” Bickslow cast a hopeful look at his only friend.

Pappa floated uncertainly, he didn’t want to kill his master’s hope, but he had to tell the truth. “No, Bickslow, it isn’t a college for people like you. You’d be able to feel their power from here.”

Bickslow sank in on himself. “Yeah, you have a point.”

Pappa floated in worried circles, he hated breaking Bickslow’s heart. Pappa had a feeling that he was Bickslow’s only friend and that was depressing.

“Want to check it out?” Pappa offered as an olive branch.

“Sure.” Bickslow stood, stuffing his hands dejectedly in his pockets. “Let’s go.”

Bickslow started shuffling down the hill towards the house, Pappa floating dejectedly behind.

#

Layla’s plan to distract Lucy from the outside world was not working. Lucy had gotten distracted by the serene look of the garden. Layla sighed, it really was unfair what Jude was trying to do to their daughter.

“Mama,” Lucy said quietly looking at the garden.

Layla looked up at her daughter, expecting another admonition about how it wasn’t windy outside. “Yes, dearest?”

“There’s a boy in the garden.” Lucy turned to her mother, using a finger to point out the window.

Layla left her seat on one of the many couches to stand behind her daughter, looking to where her daughter was pointing. There was indeed a boy in the garden. He had a shock of dark blue hair with caramel dark skin and had a floating bird totem hovering around him. Layla noticed two things immediately once the shock of seeing an actual boy in the garden. One was this boy was a mage. Two was that this was the perfect opportunity for Lucy to go play with somebody roughly her own age.

“There is indeed a boy in the garden.” Layla agreed looking fondly at her daughter.

Lucy glanced back at the boy in the garden, her brain working furiously. Layla could almost see her daughter’s thought processes.

“Mama,” Lucy said slowly, trying to not sound too eager, “may I go play with him?”

Layla looked from her daughter to the blue haired boy in the yard. She wanted more than anything for her daughter to go play with the other child, but she wasn’t sure what Jude would say about their daughter playing with an unknown child, let alone a child mage. Layla knew full well what Jude thought of magic in general.

Looking down at her daughter, Layla could see the longing her daughter had, coming to an abrupt decision, she said, “Sure, but let’s not tell daddy, ok? It’ll be our little secret.”

Lucy brightened immediately. “Ok!” She shouted as she hugged her mother.

#

Bickslow looked around the garden, it was one of many, apparently.

“How many gardens does this damn house need?” He asked quietly.

Pappa preformed a move that was akin to a shrug.

“I haven’t seen anybody else. Maybe it’s abandoned?” Bickslow hoped not, he was hungry, and no people meant no food.

“If so then it’s newly abandoned.” Pappa hoped for Bickslow’s sake that the house was not abandoned, he could see Bickslow’s ribcage even through the boy’s shirt.

“Hey!” A bright, friendly feminine child’s voice rang out from behind Bickslow.

Bickslow jumped, landing on his backside on the ground as he glanced over his shoulder. “Wha?” he cried.

“I said ‘hey’.” The voice giggled.

Pretty soon a head of blonde hair with chocolate brown eyes entered Bickslow’s line of sight.

“Uh, hey.” Bickslow quickly stood, embarrassed that such a tiny child had frightened him.

“I’m Lucy!” Lucy enthused, shoving a hand into Bickslow’s face.

“Bickslow.” Bickslow said, eying the tiny hand before Pappa nudged him to take it.

“Bigslow?” Lucy cocked her head to the side. She couldn’t really pronounce his name.

“Bix-low.” Bickslow smiled slightly at the girl’s mispronunciation of his name.

Lucy chewed her bottom lip and scrunched up her face. “May I call you Bix instead? I can’t really pronounce your name.”

Bickslow stuck his tongue out. “Sure.”

Lucy giggled. “You got a really long tongue.”

Bickslow looked down at his tongue. “Yeah, I guess I do.” He shrugged. He stuck his tongue out again, wiggling it around to see what kind of movement and how long it was. He was rewarded by Lucy’s giggling. Bickslow stopped, arched an eyebrow at her.

“It’s funny and cool when you do that.” Lucy stated with a child’s sincerity.

Bickslow looked at the girl in shock. “Really?”

“Really.” Lucy smiled up at him.

Bickslow scratched the back of his head. Most people said his sticking his tongue out was creepy. “You don’t think it’s creepy?” He had to be sure.

Lucy shook her head, giggling again. “No, I think it’s cool. I wish my tongue was that long.” She stuck her own tongue out, speaking around it, “mine ish too fort.”

Bickslow laughed. “It’s ok, I can stick my tongue enough for the both of us.”

Lucy clapped. “Really?”

“Sure, what are friends for?” Bickslow laughed nervously. He had never really had a human friend, not since he ran away from Alvarez.

“I wouldn’t know. I don’t have any friends.” Lucy toed the ground.

“Never?” Bickslow whispered.

“Never, daddy won’t let me leave.” Lucy sniffled.

Bickslow looked panicked at Pappa. _Oh, fuck, she’s crying! What do I do, Pappa?_ The boy thought frantically at his totem.

_Hug her idiot!_ Pappa screeched back into Bickslow’s mind.

Bickslow quickly hugged the crying girl. “I’ll be your friend ok? So, no more crying.”

Lucy sniffled and looked up at the older boy. “Really?”

“Really.” Bickslow hoped he was doing something right.

“Ok!” Lucy’s smile came back brighter than ever.

Bickslow blinked at her sudden mood change but shrugged it off as a result of never having playmates.

“So, since we’re friends now, then I say me having a tongue long enough for both of us is normal.” Bickslow had no idea what he was doing, he just didn’t want the little girl to cry again. He already hated seeing her cry.

Lucy nodded and reached out to hold Bickslow’s hand. “Ok. I believe you. Since you’re older than me and everything.” She closed one eye and stuck her tongue out at him.

Bickslow smirked. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means your practically a boring adult and thus you know everything.” Lucy teased, smothering a giggle in her free hand.

“I am not a boring adult!” Bickslow argued.

“How old are you?” Lucy asked.

“I’m eleven.” Bickslow answered.

“See? You’re a tween so you’re practically an adult.” Lucy’s smugness could be felt.

“What the fuck is a tween?” Bickslow scoffed, unfamiliar with the term.

Lucy scrunched up her face. “I don’t know. All I know is that according to daddy you are one. And he said that being a tween meant that you were almost old enough to marry.” She shrugged.

“I am not old enough to marry.” Bickslow blanched. Ugh, marriage, that was a long way away for him.

Lucy shrugged and rolled her eyes. “I said you were almost old enough to be married.” She reached up and poked Bickslow’s cheek.

Bickslow looked at the girl incredulously. “Whatever.”

The two feel silent as Bickslow wondered if he could stop hugging the little girl and Lucy studied Pappa.

“Wanna go play in the maze?” Lucy broke the silence.

“There’s a maze?” Bickslow chirped in excitement. He loved mazes.

“Yep.” Lucy jumped up, running a few feet away, “this way!”

She ran off, Bickslow laughing and following her.

#

Layla watched her daughter playing with the strange boy with a contented smile on her face.

“Do you really think that’s a wise decision? Letting her play with that-,” here Jude paused, “boy.” He finished lamely.

“She needs other children, Jude. Not just my spirits or the servants.” Layla looked over her shoulder to her husband.

Jude sighed and came to stand next to his beloved wife. “She needs to be ready to-,” his words were cut off.

“She is six years old, Jude.” Layla’s eyes flashed in anger. “She can stand to be a child a little longer until you marry her off to one of your friends.” She spat in disgust.

“I won’t marry her off to one of my friends, but one of their sons.” Jude placated his wife.

“There’s not much of a difference.” Layla crossed her arms, turning back to look at the garden at the loud peel of their daughter’s laughter. “It’s not what I want for her.”

“I know, but it’s what best for her.” Jude tried again to placate his wife.

Layla snorted. “Whatever helps you sleep at night, Jude.”

Jude and Layla turned to look at the two children playing. The blue haired boy was carrying Lucy on his shoulders as she tried to catch the little bird totem.

#

The sun was setting, and Lucy could see the maid at the edge of the garden, but she was studiously ignoring the poor woman. Lucy knew the maid was doing her job but that didn’t mean Lucy had to like it.

Bickslow noticed the tension that seeped into Lucy and spared a glance to the source of his friend’s ire; there was a maid patiently waiting.

“Do you have to go?” He whispered to her.

Lucy barely nodded, looking into his eyes, chocolate brown meeting burgundy red. “Yeah, it’s time for my evening studies.”

“Evening studies?” Bickslow had no idea what those even were.

“Yeah.” Lucy huffed. “I gotta learn about daddy’s business since I’m an heiress and I’m expected to help my future husband run the company. It’s stupid.”

Bickslow looked from the maid to Lucy. He had a vague notion of what an heiress was. “Why’s it stupid?”

“Because I don’t wanna run a company with my husband. I wanna be a mage like my mom.” Lucy stamped her foot stubbornly.

“What kind of mage is your mom?” Bickslow smiled at his young friend’s ferocity. She was kind of cute.

“She’s a Celestial Mage. She can summon Celestial Spirits to help her fight and stuff!” Lucy’s entire demeanor changed at the mention of her mother’s magic.

“Huh, so kind of like my magic.” Bickslow said. Celestial Magic and Seith Magic were similar, both used spirits.

“What do you mean? What kind of wizard are you?” Lucy asked.

“I’m a Seith Mage.” Bickslow loved talking about his magic even though it freaked out most people. “I can control souls, like Pappa, and they help me fight.”

Lucy’s eyes widened as she looked from Pappa’s bird totem to Bickslow.

Bickslow waited for the little girl to say that it was creepy or gross or disgusting, for her to freak out. He folded in on himself and waited for her to lambaste him.

“You really control souls?” She asked in a small voice.

“Yeah.” Bickslow shoved his hands in his pockets.

“That’s really cool!” Lucy grabbed his arm. “Could you control Celestial Spirits? Can you only control human souls? Or can you control animal souls too?” She had correctly inferred that Pappa was a former human soul since the totem could talk.

Bickslow blinked down at her. “Uh, I can only control human even there are Seith mages that can control animal souls. And I don’t know about Celestial Spirits. I’ve never ran into one.”

Lucy began bouncing around. “Oh! I wish I could ask mama to summon one right now! Maybe Cancer? I don’t think he’d mind helping!”

“Uh-,” Bickslow glanced at Pappa, he was feeling a decidedly amused feeling from the totem.

“You gonna be back here tomorrow?” Lucy asked suddenly as she noticed her mother had joined the maid at the edge of the garden.

“Probably not.” Bickslow said matter of fact. He watched as Lucy’s face fell. But he had to catch a train in the morning.

“Damn.” Lucy muttered, already used to her playmates leaving her; it was the first curse word Bickslow had heard her utter the entire day.

“Lucy!” Her mother called softly, motioning for her daughter and the boy to come to her.

Lucy and Bickslow started walking towards Layla.

“Do you think we can still be friends even though you’re leaving?” Lucy asked so softly Bickslow almost didn’t hear it.

“Sure, of course we’ll be friends!” Bickslow let his tongue loll out of his mouth garnering a giggle from the blonde. “No matter how far apart or how many years go by, I’ll always be your friend, Lucy.”

“Really?” Big brown eyes studied Bickslow’s face.

“Really.” Bickslow reached down and grabbed Lucy’s much smaller hand.

Lucy beamed up at him.

Neither let go of the others’ hand as they finally reached Lucy’s mother.

“Mama, this is my friend, Bickslow.” She said his name slowly; full names were important for first meetings.

“Hello, Bickslow, I’m Layla.” Layla smiled at the boy, offering a hand for a handshake, indicating with her eyes for Bickslow to use his free hand.

Bickslow used his free hand. “Hello, Miss Layla.”

Bickslow couldn’t help but notice how mother and daughter were practically spitting images of each other. Both had chocolate brown eyes and blonde hair.

“Lucy, say goodbye to Bickslow and go cleanup for dinner.” Layla smiled down at her daughter.

“Ok, Mama.” Lucy turned and wrapped her little arms around Bickslow’s waist. “Bye Bix. I’m glad we’re friends. Forever right?”

Bickslow smiled down at the little girl. “Forever and ever, Lucy.”

Lucy hugged him again and scurried off with one final wave to Bickslow before she disappeared around a bush.

Layla and Bickslow studied each other.

“I’d like to thank you, Bickslow.” Layla said finally.

“Ma’am?” Bickslow started.

Layla crouched down to get eye level with the boy. “She is a very lonely child. You are the first person she’s had to play with that was around her age. So, thank you. You made her so happy.”

Bickslow blushed. “It was nothing, ma’am.”

“Bickslow was feeling lonely ever since he landed in Fiore, so thank you so much for letting your darling daughter play with him.” Pappa spoke up from Bickslow’s left shoulder.

Layla smiled at the spirit. “You’re welcome. You’re raising a fine boy.”

Pappa chuckled. “Thank you, Miss Layla.”

Layla caught Bickslow’s eye again. “I have packed you a bag, it should have about a fortnight’s worth of food in it. And my contact information if you get into trouble.” She pulled a pack from ground behind her and handed it to Bickslow.

Bickslow’s eyes widened as he looked at the blue bag with red accents, the colors matching his hair and eyes perfectly. He looked up at Layla as he accepted the bag.

Layla winked at him. “I had one of my spirits bring out for you. There’s also two gifts in there for you.” She patted Bickslow on the head as she straightened. “One of them is a wood working kit, if you’re going to be a Seith Mage you should learn to carve your own totems, so you can give them the perfect vessels, don’t you think.” Her smile was soft and understanding. “The other is a surprise.”

Bickslow could only swallow and nod. “Thank you. And thank you for letting Lucy come out and play with me.”

“It’s no problem, Bickslow. Be safe.” Layla gave into her instincts and pulled the boy into a quick hug. “I hope you and my daughter meet again one day.”

Bickslow smiled, slung the bag over his shoulder and left the garden, heading towards the train station.

It wasn’t until he was sitting on a bench at the train station that he looked through the bag and found a picture that he had no clue as to how it was taken. It was a close-up of Lucy on Bickslow’s shoulders, one of her hands on Bickslow’s head to steady her, her other reaching for Pappa, Bickslow’s hand wrapped around her ankles to steady her, both smiling and laughing with abandon, their tongues sticking out.

“Me too.” He whispered to the picture. “I’ll never forget you, Lucy.”


	2. Chapter 2

Bickslow smoothed down his hair in the mirror of the train bathroom. He had helmet hair something awful.

“Are you going to be much longer?” Freed’s calm voice could be heard through the door.

“Yeah, yeah. Just finishing.” Bickslow rolled his eyes, giving up his hair as a lost cause. He put his ear to the door, trying to hear where Freed was in conjunction to the door, a shit-eating grin spread across his face; Freed was in the perfect position. “Coming out now!” Bickslow cried just as he threw open the door to be rewarded with a yelp and a thud as the door hit Freed in the face.

Bickslow cackled madly as his friend glared balefully at him.

“Was that absolutely necessary?” Freed huffed.

“Yeah, it kinda was.” Bickslow lolled his tongue out, waggling it at the greenette as he donned his helmet.

Freed rolled his eyes. “Laxus wants to speak to you.” Freed smirked as he closed the bathroom door.

Bickslow rolled his eyes, stuffing his hands into his pockets. Laxus always wanted to talk to Bickslow before a mission.

“Yo, boss man, what’s up?” Bickslow asked, as he took his seat again in the train car.

Evergreen was reading a trashy novel, listening to whatever it was she listened to while reading. Bickslow could pick up what sounded like gangster rap from her headphones.

Laxus pinched the bridge of his nose, looking rather green from motion sickness. “You remember the plan right?”

“Yeah.” Bickslow rolled his eyes, always thankful he wore a visor; he didn’t want to get shocked for being insubordinate. Again.

“Good.” Laxus burped uncomfortably.

Bickslow sighed and went back to looking out the window. The scenery passing by reminded him of a garden from eleven years ago and a day he spent playing with Lucy. Bickslow often wondered whatever happened to her. He never learned her last name and after eleven years he couldn’t even remember how to get to her house. He thought her name was Lucy Heartfilia but only because he remembered an article and obituary about somebody named Layla Heartfilia, wife of prominent businessman Jude Heartfilia. But again, that was seven years ago. He was pretty sure Lucy was Lucy Heartfilia, but memories were a tricky thing, he and Mest often talked about how memories were weird and could morph over time.

Sighing, Bickslow reached up and pulled out his bag, blue with red accents that exactly matched his hair and eyes. Laxus and the others often asked where he got the child size bag and why he never upgraded it to an adult size bag. Bickslow would just shrug and say it was from a friend and it was the only thing he had to remember her by. That was a lie, he still had the picture, which he now had two copies of. The original sat in a picture frame on his bedside table; the copy was carried at all times in a secret pocket in his shirt, protected by magic so that it would never get damaged just in case. Bickslow pulled out his own soundpod, pulled out the picture for a quick look before placing it carefully back in his pocket, a small smile playing across his lips as he turned on the playlist that reminded him of that day, letting his mind wander back through the years as he stared out of the window.

#

There were few things Evergreen did not know. It wasn’t that she was nosey by choice, it was more like people and information just came to her. She wasn’t a gossip, she didn’t have any girl friends to gossip with and Freed was too busy in his books to be a reliable one anyway. The things she did know was that Laxus and Mirajane were in love with each other; Freed had a massive crush on Levy; Elfman was a giant sweetheart and Evergreen found his large hulking body attractive.

What she didn’t know was what was in that picture that Bickslow kept in his shirt pocket. She did know that not even Laxus had seen the picture. This lack of knowledge burned through Evergreen like a wildfire; she needed to know what was in that picture. She wanted to know what about it made Bickslow get a stupidly happy smile on his face. She needed to know what made Bickslow happy. Maybe it would give her an idea of what to finally buy for a gift; she didn’t want to be like Freed and Laxus and automatically assume that Bickslow wanted wood. Giving wood and wood carving tools were a fine gift, especially since Bickslow seemed to enjoy it but it was not a fine gift for every single gift giving occasion.

She needed to know what made her friend happy, so she could help alleviate his loneliness.

#

Laxus knew a bit more than Evergreen but that was only because of his enhanced sense of smell. He knew that Mirajane was in love with him but he didn’t know how to approach her. He knew that Freed had a crush on Levy. He knew that Cana was torn up inside between liking Mest and Max, he knew Gildarts was Cana’s father; Gildarts was oblivious. He knew that Laki and Macao were secretly a couple. What he didn’t know was what was in that photograph that Bickslow kept in his shirt pocket.

He knew the photograph had all sorts of protections on it to keep it from being damaged but that was because he could smell the protections.

Every time, Bickslow was feeling particularly lonely, the Seith Mage would take out that picture, glance at it, then immediately stop feeling lonely. Laxus was baffled. He was at first hurt that his and Freed’s friendship weren’t enough to stem the man’s loneliness. When confronted, Bickslow looked at Laxus for a while before answering, ‘It’s a memory of my very first human friend here.’ Laxus dropped it after that. Most people wouldn’t think that Laxus Dreyar could be understanding, but he was. True, he was only understanding to his friends and Mirajane, but he was understanding. He understood more than Bickslow realized how the memory of a first friend can be a comfort at times. And Laxus wasn’t going to pry, Laxus was just glad that Bickslow would pull out of whatever funk he was in whenever he gazed at the picture.

Academically, Laxus wanted to know what was in the picture. Emotionally, he was just happy that Bickslow was happy.

#

Freed knew exactly what in the picture. He knew because he had caught Bickslow looking at it once. He hadn’t meant to sneak up on the Seith Mage, but it happened. It was the first and only time that he and Bickslow had gotten into a fight.

Freed had seen the picture and, being ever curious, asked who the blonde girl was in the photo.

Bickslow had jumped up and punched Freed right in his aristocratic nose, yelling for the Rune Mage to mind his own ‘goddamn business!’

Freed had not minded his own goddamn business. He had punched Bickslow back. It had gone down hill after that. It wasn’t until Mirajane went full Demon on both that they stopped and actually talked to each other.

Bickslow explained and Freed apologized. Bickslow didn’t ask but Freed swore himself to secrecy. It wasn’t until later that Freed found out that the Lucy that Bickslow had played with as a child was in fact Lucy Heartfilia. Freed had been researching something or other –he couldn’t remember exactly what anymore –and saw a photo of a little girl that looked exactly like the little girl in Bickslow’s picture standing next to an austere, cold looking man in an article about a business and how the man was coping after the death of his wife.

Freed wanted to tell Bickslow, but he also knew it would do no good. Lucy Heartfilia was an heiress to a very rich company, she would most likely be engaged at fourteen and married by sixteen. Freed made an executive decision when it came to his best friend. He didn’t tell Bickslow that Lucy was Lucy Heartfilia. And he prayed that Bickslow never found out about his friend’s duplicity.


	3. Chapter 3

Lucy was ecstatic that she was a part of an actual Guild. She was unsure about her partners most of the time but Natsu was hilarious if a bit –ok, a lot destructive—and Happy, well, the cat was an asshole, but he had his moments of adorable and Lucy had always wanted a pet.

“So, Lucy, what’ll it be today?’ Mirajane, the white-haired barmaid, asked kindly.

“Strawberry smoothie today, please, Mira.” Lucy loved Mirajane. The older mage was kind and had a pleasant smile reminiscent of Lucy’s own mother.

“Oh, a change up huh?” Mirajane smiled as she made Lucy’s smoothie.

“Yeah, I think milk makes me bloated.” Lucy chuckled as she patted her ridiculously flat stomach.

Mirajane giggled. “You sure it’s the milk?” She cut her eyes over to Happy.

Lucy giggled. “Well, it could be because on the last mission the train car kept getting stunk up. I’m trying to be helpful.” She rolled her eyes. She and Mirajane shared another giggle.

Both women knew that the train cabin stunk because Natsu with the addition of getting motion sickness also had a habit of flatulence.

Mirajane set the smoothie in front of Lucy carefully before snickering. “You’re just trying to eliminate the possible problems?”

Lucy nodded around her straw. “Yep.” Rolling her eyes again.

#

Lucy had a mission, or more specifically, she had been tricked to going on a mission by one Natsu Dragneel.

She packed an overnight bag just in case, hand pausing as it landed over a copy of a picture from her childhood. She was on the shoulders of a laughing blue-haired boy as she reached for a bird totem.

“Bigslow.” She laughed. She couldn’t pronounce his name very well but throughout the day he had patiently taught her how to say it correctly, despite her calling him Bix the entire time. Chuckling to herself she said, “Bickslow.”

Often, she’d catch herself wondering whatever happened to him. While she had told Mirajane that Natsu was the first human friend she had, it was a lie. Natsu was the first human friend she had that hadn’t left.

“Lushy!” Natsu yelled as he climbed through her bedroom window. “It’s time to go! Aren’t you ready yet?”

Lucy laughed, placing the picture back inside the book she decided she’d read on the train ride. She often used it as a bookmark. It helped her feel less alone and using it as a bookmark was the only sure way she wouldn’t lose it. She had enchantment after enchantment on the photograph to make it bookmark sized until she stroked it in a certain pattern to make it a four by six picture again.

Stuffing the book in her bag, she smiled fondly at Natsu. “I’m ready! Let’s do this!”

#

“Lucy! How did the mission go?” Mirajane chirped as Team Natsu walked into the guild.

Lucy plopped down on a barstool, a twitch to her forehead and a mad glint to her eye. “Not well.”

Mirajane looked between her new friend and Natsu. She had to agree, the mission did not go well. “What happened?”

Lucy sighed, laying her head on her arms on the bar. “We didn’t get paid, which was fine, but I didn’t even get the Key even after defeating Duke Everlue.”

Mirajane frowned in confusion. “Key?”

Lucy blew her bangs out of her face. “Turns out, Duke Everlue was a Celestial Mage like me. He had Virgo. One of the major twelve Zodiac Keys. And technically since I defeated him then I should get her Key but-,” she banged her head on the bar. “I just wanted her key because Cancer keeps talking about how he and Virgo used to have movie nights and he misses her! And the only way they can do that again is if I have her Key!”

She was whining, and she knew it, but it was entirely unfair that the Celestial Spirits couldn’t hang out together if they weren’t contracted to the same mage. She had no idea how Aquarius could even go on dates with Scorpio.

Mirajane smiled despite being taken aback by Lucy’s outburst. “Why do you want all the Zodiac Keys anyway?” She never asked Lucy why the Celestial mage wanted all the golden Keys, even though after that outburst she had an idea.

Lucy propped her chin on her hand. “Because then they can all be together again. Cancer and Virgo can have their movie nights. Aquarius can spend more time with her boyfriend, Scorpio. Taurus can go on ice cream dates with Aries.” Her brows drew together. “Which is a thing the two of them do apparently.” Sighing, she smiled happily down at her keys as she felt them warm at her words. “They can be together and be one big happy family again. How could I not want my friends to be happy?”

Mirajane swooned; that was only the sweetest thing she had ever heard. “Lucy, you are a wonderful human being.” She said softly.

“Thanks, Mira, but I’m really not.” Lucy shooed her friend’s compliment aside.

Mirajane opened her mouth to argue when the guild doors burst open and five flying totems entered, a whirlwind of disembodied voices giggling as their mage and the rest of the Raijinshu came in.

Mira turned to continue their conversation until she saw Lucy’s reaction to the totems. _Now that is interesting_. Mira thought as she watched Lucy’s face go through a gambit of emotions. Shock, joy, sadness, confusion, doubt. Doubt stayed on the Celestial Mage’s face far longer than the other emotions as Lucy watched the five totems settle on the second floor bannister, her eyes swung back to the four mages that entered the guild: a giant blond man, an aristocratic greenette, a beautiful brunette in an equally gorgeous green dress, and a giant wearing an all blue knight’s get-up. Lucy’s brow furrowed as she looked between the totems and the blue knight, the clear master of the little things.

“Everything ok there, Luce?” Mirajane asked, her eyes darting between the second floor and Lucy’s face.

“I didn’t know the guild had another Seith Mage.” Was all Lucy said before lowering her gaze back to her smoothie.

“Well, yeah.” Mirajane was eaten up with curiosity. How did Lucy know about Seith Mages? “Nab controls animal souls.” Mirajane pointed to a tall man that wore tribal clothing. “Bickslow-,”

“Bickslow?” Lucy interrupted, her face going white before a blush spread across her cheeks.

_Interesting_. Mira thought again, her curiosity now wanting to explode into a series of invasive questions. “Yeah, Bickslow. He’s the one in the knight’s get-up. He controls human souls.”

Lucy chewed her bottom lip as she gazed off into space. “Mira, where is Bickslow from?”

Mirajane had to think about that. She only knew what she could glean from her breaking into Mater’s office and reading the files on members whenever the rest of the guild was passed out from drinking. “Alvarez.”

Lucy’s mind was going ten thousand miles a minute. This Bickslow could be her Bickslow. “What color are his hair and eyes?” While she couldn’t doubt the fact that Bickslow could be the name of another man out there, nor the fact that loads of people are Seith mages, there was the glaring coincidence that this man was a Seith Mage named Bickslow. The probability of there being two Seith Mages by the name of Bickslow in all of Fiore was astronomical.

_Of course, your Bickslow could have left the country._ Her mind slipped in. Lucy ignored it as she waited for Mirajane to answer.

“Well, huh.” Mirajane had to rack her brain, trying to come up with the picture that was on file. Bickslow joined Fairy Tail when he was seventeen. “He has blue hair and red eyes, I think. Why?”

Lucy felt herself freeze up. It was him! Right? What was the likelihood of this Bickslow sharing the same looks as her first human friend.

“No reason.” Lucy mumbled, waving a hand to ward off questions. “He just reminded me of somebody that I met once.” She gave Mirajane a perfectly practiced smile; she couldn’t let the barmaid known how unsettled she was.

Mirajane decided to drop the subject, she could sense that Lucy was uncomfortable with whatever realization the younger woman had. Smiling, Mirajane looked at Lucy’s mostly empty smoothie glass. “Another smoothie?”

“Yes, please!” Lucy cried, causing Mirajane to giggle.

#

Bickslow looked over the guild from the second floor. Everything was the same. Elfman was crying about being a man, Macao and Cana were drinking, Max was trying not to stare openly at the way Cana’s throat moved as she swallowed. Mest was conspicuously absent. Wakaba was entertaining Romeo by making smoke rings. Natsu and Gray were fighting. Erza was absent. Finally, his burgundy eyes landed on the bar, he was thirsty. He froze when he saw an attractive blonde sitting at the bar, laughing with Mirajane.

“Oh, we got somebody new.” Freed said from Bickslow’s elbow.

“Is she hot?” Laxus asked from his seat.

Freed rolled his eyes and turned to look at Laxus. “Yes. And your type as well. Blonde, bubbly, large tits, small waist. No idea about eye color though or height.”

Laxus stood and came to stand on the other side of Bickslow at the railing, the Lightning Mage whistled. “Fuck me, she is smoking.”

Freed coughed at his boss’ language. “Indeed.” Freed wasn’t really into blondes but he could agree that the blonde talking to Mirajane was attractive. Something about her was vaguely familiar. Before he could place why Evergreen’s voice broke in.

“Why don’t you go talk to her, Laxus?” Her nose was stuffed into a different book. Only Freed knew that the book was a treatise on the various wild flowers to be found in this part of Fiore because he cleverly used his Runes to make it appear as a trashy novel. Why Evergreen wanted to hide how intelligent she was was beyond him. “I’m sure she’d be really happy to have a conversation with The Laxus Dreyar.”

Her male teammates could hear the eye roll in her words. Laxus snorted, clapping Freed on the shoulder.

“Go find out what her eye color is.” He smirked at the shorter man.

Freed rolled his eyes. “I will gladly go get us some drinks and food. If I happen to notice what color her eyes are, I’ll inform you.”

Laxus laughed and went to go sit back down.

Bickslow ignored the entire exchange. The blonde woman looked exactly like Layla Heartfilia. Was she Lucy? Could Lucy even be here? Would she remember him? What kind of magic did the blonde use? He couldn’t see if she had any Celestial Keys on her. He could see that her hair was the color of spun sunlight and her laughter rang like the purest bell. He hoped it was his Lucy.

He turned to talk to Freed, to ask his friend to find out what kind of magic the blonde used then doubt assailed him. What if it wasn’t Lucy but another blonde woman that happened to look like Layla Heartfilia? What if she was Lucy and Lucy didn’t remember him? What if Lucy remembered him but wanted nothing to do with him because she had decided in the last eleven years that his magic was creepy?

Freed clearing his throat drew Bickslow out of his musings.

“Yeah?” Bickslow asked, voice rough.

“Would you like to accompany me to the bar?” Freed arched an eyebrow, aware of why his friend would be freaking out.

“Sure.” Bickslow laughed, his tongue lolling out to cover his reaction.

Freed shook his head and started down the stairs.

#

Lucy was halfway through her second smoothie when the greenette she saw earlier took the barstool beside her, the knight standing on his other side.

“Mirajane, a round for us, please.” The greenette’s voice was pleasant, deeper than Lucy would have expected.

Mirajane ignored the body language of Bickslow and Lucy, focusing on Freed. “Of course, Freed. The usual?”

“Indeed.” Freed inclined his head.

Mirajane flashed a smile, filling the order, looking between Freed and Lucy. Freed was obviously ignoring the poor woman and Lucy was trying hard to ignore Bickslow. Bickslow was too focused on Mirajane’s hands.

“Have you guys met the newest member? Her name is—” Mirajane was cut off as Bickslow quickly pushed himself away from the bar, mumbling something about having to use the restroom. “Lucy.” Mirajane smiled at Freed.

Freed did not blanch, he was quite proud of himself. Glancing over, he saw that the blonde beside him was the spitting image of Layla Heartfilia and that could only mean that Lucy was Lucy Heartfilia and Bickslow’s first human friend in Fiore.

“Miss Lucy.” Freed took Lucy’s hand, bowing over it, as he was taught to do. “Freed Justine. A pleasure.”

Lucy blushed, gently pulling her hand from Freed’s grasp. “Just Lucy is fine.” She giggled nervously.

“Here you go, Freed!” Mirajane chimed as she set a tray of drinks in front of Freed. “The usual.”

“Thank you, Mira.” Freed inclined his head, picking up the tray, and performing a half-bow to Lucy. “A pleasure, Lucy.”

“Nice meeting you too, Freed.” Lucy touched her cheeks to see how red they were as she watched the greenette walk away.

Mirajane studied Lucy again under the guise of cleaning off the bar top.

“Hey, Mira, did Freed leave?” Bickslow sauntered back up to the bar. He was avoiding Lucy.

What was even more interesting was how Lucy was avoiding the Seith Mage back.

“Yeah, sorry, Bickslow.” Mirajane flashed a smile. “He’s already got your drink order too.”

Bickslow sighed. “Did he get my food order? Or did he only get the drinks?”

“Was he supposed to get food?” Mirajane scrunched her face up, upset if she hadn’t fulfilled the order.

“Nah,” Bickslow cackled. “I’m just hungry. I was hoping he’d read my mind though and order my food anyway.”

Mirajane giggled. “I didn’t know mind reading was one of his powers.”

“It’s not but considering how much Laxus and I eat then it’s amazing he didn’t order food.” Bickslow grinned.

“So, the usual food wise?” Mirajane arched an eyebrow.

“Please!” Bickslow begged, his five totems echoing him.

Mirajane giggled at Bickslow’s and his totems’ antics before disappearing into the kitchen.

With Mirajane gone, an awkward silence fell between the two mages. Both wanted to find out if their suspicions were true, neither knew how to bring it up.

“Lushy!” Happy flew into the side of Lucy’s head.

“What Happy?” Lucy laughed as she removed the cat from her head.

“I’m bored. Can we go back to your place and watch a movie?” Happy begged.

Lucy pursed her lips. “Which movie do you want to watch?”

“Natsu wants to watch ‘Dragonheart’ but I want to watch ‘Shrek’.” Happy’s eyes started tearing up, the cat knew that Natsu would get his way and they’d watch ‘Dragonheart.’

Lucy narrowed her eyes. “I refuse to watch that movie for the sixth time this week. We are watching ‘Shrek’ and he’s just gonna have to suck it up. It’s me and you together, Happy!”

Happy made a face. “I don’t know, Lushy.”

“I’ll buy you three massive fish if you side with me once we get there.” Lucy bribed.

Happy lit up. “Aye, sir!” the cat flew off yelling at Natsu that they were watching ‘Shrek’ because Lucy said so.

Bickslow watched the exchange between the mystery blonde and Happy. _So, her name **is** Lucy_. He thought. But he had to make sure, there might be an abundance of blonde Lucy’s in Fiore.

“You’re a monster.” Bickslow had Pippi say in Gingie’s voice.

Lucy quipped without thinking. “I’m not the monster here, you are. You and the rest of that fairy tale trash, poisoning my perfect world.” She sounded very much like Lord Farquaad. “Now tell me; where are the others?”

Bickslow snorted, her Lord Farquaad impression was still the same.

“Eat me!” Pippi said, making the sound of hocking a loogie.

“I’ve tried to be fair with you creatures, but now my patience has reached its end!” Lucy grabbed Pippi, bringing the totem close to her face, a deep scowl on her features. “Tell me, or I’ll—” Lucy pinched Pippi’s nose.

“No! Not the buttons! Not my gumdrop buttons!” Pippi wailed.

The pair were now garnering the attention of the entire guild. Nobody had ever seen Bickslow use his totems to quote ‘Shrek’ before, use his totems to scream bloody murder and sing the ‘Jason’ and ‘Jaws’ theme songs but not quote a children’s movie. Most of the time the totems just echoed what he said, if they weren’t being used to frighten people. Mirajane had a calculating look in her eye.

Lucy scowled harder at the totem. “All right, then, who’s hiding them?” she released Pippi.

“Okay, I’ll tell you.” Pippi sniffed. “Do you know the Muffin Man?”

“The Muffin Man?” Lucy asked.

“The Muffin Man.” Pippi sobbed.

“Yes, I know the Muffin Man. Who lives on Drury Lane?” Lucy demanded.

“Well, she’s married to the Muffin Man!” Pippi broke into heart wrenching sobs.

“The Muffin Man?” Lucy banged her fist on the bar top.

“THE MUFFIN MAN!” Pippi cried out.

Lucy burst into giggles the same time as Pippi. Bickslow and his other four totems joined in.

“So,” Lucy’s voice was back to normal.

“So,” Bickslow agreed, leaning his arm on the bar, getting ready to talk to the blonde.

Mirajane stood off to the side with the completed food order but she didn’t want to interrupt what could be a magical moment.

“BICKSLOW!” Laxus shouted. “Hurry your ass up! I’m hungry!”

Bickslow jumped up and looked at the second floor. Laxus was leaning against the railing, lightning crackling around his body.

“Coming, boss man!” Bickslow yelled back. “Another time, I guess.” He said, grinning down at Lucy as he accepted the tray of food from Mirajane.

“I guess.” Lucy smiled. “Your totems are adorable by the way.”

Bickslow felt his cheeks heat up from a blush. “Uh, thanks.” He cringed when Laxus shouted his name again. “Gotta go. Come on, babies! Boss man needs us!” He jumped up on his totems and flew to the second floor.

Lucy laughed at the spectacle.

“So,” Mirajane’s smile demanded answers whether Lucy was going to answer them or not. “What was that about?”

Lucy shrugged. “I don’t know. But aren’t his totems just the cutest?” She giggled.

“Lushy!” Happy yelled as he flew into her. “Can we go watch ‘Shrek’ now?”

Lucy laughed, pleased the cat interrupted the interrogation Mirajane was going to give. “Sure, Happy. Let’s go. Later Mira!”

“Later Lucy!” Mirajane’s parting smile did not bode well for either Happy or Lucy.

#

Bickslow quietly seethed at his friend’s abysmal timing. He was just about to find out if the blonde was his Lucy.

“So, Freed.” Laxus spoke around mouthful of sandwich, “you find out what her eye color is? Or a name?”

Freed sighed, patting his mouth with a napkin, it was quite uncouth of Laxus to talk with his mouth full. Freed exchanged a secretive look with Evergreen. It asked: Did he hear what was being said at the bar?

Evergreen blinked rapidly. Her look meant: no, he was talking to his grandpa.

Freed thanked Evergreen. Not many people knew, the rest of the Raijinshu didn’t, but Evergreen and Freed were thick as thieves, they had many forms of secret communication, it’s what made them such excellent partners.

“No,” Freed stated.

“Oh, well. Not like I need her name anyway.” Laxus shrugged and continued eating.

Evergreen and Freed exchanged looks.

Bickslow pursed his lips. He had heard Mirajane try and introduce the girl to Freed. And Bickslow himself had heard Happy yell her name several times but if Freed was going to lie to Laxus then he wasn’t about to say any different. Everybody at the table knew that Laxus was in love with Mirajane and thus the Lightning Mage was not about to ruin his chances with the white-haired barmaid by fucking somebody else in the guild, let alone a girl that Mirajane viewed as a friend.

“So, Bix,” Evergreen said after a while. “What was that little display with the totems and the new girl?”

Bickslow coughed, hitting his chest to dislodge some food that suddenly stuck in his throat. “What display?”

Evergreen rolled her eyes. “The whole quoting of ‘Shrek’ Pippi was doing with her. I believe the entire guild heard it. And most saw it.”

“Wait, Bix, you used one of your totems to quote an old kids movie at her?” Laxus exclaimed.

“Yeah, I was trying to see what kind of person she was. You know most people think my totems are creepy as shit.” Bickslow took another bite of his burger.

“That’s true.” Freed said. He had watched the interaction with keen interest. Bickslow had never once done something to that extent but if Bickslow was going to lie then Freed would let him.

“So, she freak out?” Laxus had been locked up with his grandpa until the very end of the exchange between Bickslow and the blonde.

“Nope, she quoted the movie right back at me. Well, Pippi.” Bickslow chuckled, his tongue lolling out.

Laxus grunted, he didn’t know how to take that. He did know it was a test Bickslow gave to every new member –and guild member in general when Bickslow himself joined the guild – of the guild just in case the Seith mage was forced to work with a guild member that wasn’t in the Raijinshu. Very few people passed. Natsu did not pass, neither did Gray. Erza passed only because she thought the entire concept was interesting. Levy looked like she was going to accept the little totems before her self-proclaimed body guards told Bickslow to stop being such a freak. Laxus still remembered Levy using her Script Magic to crush the two men under a large rock until Elfman was allowed to lift it off them. Yeah, that still made Laxus laugh. Evergreen and Freed responded well to the totems. But most people in the guild couldn’t stand the totems so the fact that the new girl not only interacted with the totems but quoted almost the entire scene with the totem word for word and then called them cute was a point in her favor.

“What’s her magic?” Laxus pushed his plate away from him. He was done eating.

“I didn’t notice.” Bickslow felt like an idiot. He was so focused on her interacting with Pippi that he hadn’t bothered to notice if she had Celestial Keys.

Laxus turned to look at Freed.

“I didn’t have an opportunity to ask. Mirajane is exceedingly prompt with her service.” Freed finished his meal as well and began stacking the discarded and empty plates.

Laxus huffed. “You guys are useless.”

Evergreen rolled her eyes and went back to her book. Freed pulled the bell pull that indicated to Mirajane that they were done with their meal. Laxus put his headphones back over his ears. Bickslow leaned back in his chair, lost in thought.

The blonde had to be his Lucy right? She even had brown eyes like his Lucy.


	4. Chapter 4

As much as Bickslow and Lucy wanted to interact with each other, they were unable to do so. Bickslow because Laxus decided on a S-Class mission that would last about three months; Lucy because Natsu decided to sneak an S-Class mission.

Bickslow went happily. The thought that Lucy would still be a member of the guild when he came back.

Lucy went anxiously. She wanted the Key that was part of the reward, but she also didn’t like the idea of going on an S-Class mission when neither she nor Natsu -or Happy, couldn’t forget about Happy-was a S-Class mage. The addition of one Gray Fulbuster, also not an S-Class mage, did not help her feel less anxious. Her mind was so focused on the job and her nerves that she didn’t have room to try and focus on whether or not Bickslow was her childhood friend.

#

Being bound, gagged, and left in a tent did leave one with ample time to think about life decisions. This is how Lucy found herself currently. The fact that her own guild mate was the one to tie her up meant nothing in Lucy’s humble opinion. At least she wasn’t alone. Happy was also currently bound as well.

Gray was the next victim.

Really, Erza should not be this good at tying knots. Lucy was regretting it more and more that she had not properly introduced herself to Bickslow. Now she had ample time and room to focus on the Seith Mage.

Lucy hoped that once she finished this job, she was still able to be a member of the guild. She had been Fairy Tail for such a short time and she already loved it with all her heart and every fellow guild member that she had had the privilege and pleasure to interact with.

#

Sagittarius was not what she expected but the Celestial Spirits never were really. Virgo was oddly helpful and prone to popping out of her gate at random times. Most often when Lucy was in the bathroom.

Lucy sat chatting to Mira at the bar, just coming back from a mission with Natsu, Happy, Erza, and Gray. The reward money was not as much as she would have liked.

“Princess, I have brought you some peach yogurt.” Virgo appeared at Lucy’s elbow.

Screeching, Lucy fell off the stool, Virgo sent her chains out to catch her mistress. Depositing Lucy back on the stool, Virgo bowed, proffering the peach yogurt.

“Uh, thanks, Virgo.” Lucy said as she accepted a version of her favorite food.

“I apologize for frightening you, Princess.” Virgo’s forehead was in danger of touching the floor if the pink-haired Celestial Spirit bowed any lower. “Punishment?”

Lucy choked on her yogurt. “Uh.” Virgo asked for punishment every time she popped up. Lucy stopped asking about her friends’ strange quirks, but it was one of the stranger ones. “How about your punishment is you don’t get punished?”

Virgo blinked. “As you wish, Princess.” The maid dissolved into a cloud of golden glitter which soon dissipated.

“So, that was,” Mirajane pulled a blank.

“Weird?” Lucy supplied.

Mirajane giggled. “I wasn’t going to be the one to say anything.”

Lucy shrugged. “She pops out on her own all the time. At least this time I was wearing clothes.” Lucy rolled her eyes.

“Oh?” Mirajane smirked, her eyes sparking with interest.

“Yeah, Virgo likes to dress me. And wash my hair.” Lucy rolled her eyes, giggling. “That annoys Cancer to no end which why I think she does it.”

Mirajane arched an eyebrow. “Why would that annoy Cancer?”

“Because he’s the one I usually go to for hair and outfit advice. But Virgo does it instead. You should hear their arguments whenever I have Cancer out to do my hair. Virgo pops out to start giving me clothes.” Lucy snickered around her spoon. “It’s adorable.”

Mirajane smiled at the younger woman’s antics. Lucy didn’t know it, but she lightened up the guild. The blonde Celestial Mage reminded Mirajane of her own little sister in how kind Lucy was.

Laughing and joking together, the two women didn’t know that they were being overheard. The black-haired man with blood red eyes smirked as he listened to Lucy Heartfilia give away details of her life to the barmaid.

“Gihi. This is gonna be too damn easy.” The man chuckled to himself from the roof of the opposite building. _It was a good thing that Natsu wasn’t at the guild_ , the man thought, _or else I’d have been found out by now._

#

Bickslow knew that he shouldn’t be doing what he was doing, but he had to know. He just had to. Plus, it really wasn’t as difficult to break into Lucy’s apartment as it should have been. He and his totems were systematically going through everything and finding nothing. Nothing other than letters written to her mother.

“Why hasn’t she sent them?” He asked Puppu, his closest totem.

Puppu did the weird totem shrug movement.

“You guys find anything?” Bickslow knew better than to sit anywhere, he didn’t want Natsu to scent him in Lucy’s apartment. Bickslow was already breaking his promise to Laxus by being back in Magnolia.

He heard a chorus of five totems confirming there was nothing there.

“Alright, babies, let’s go before Freed misses us.” Bickslow waited until his totems were floating outside before he stepped onto them for them to fly him back to where Freed was.

Bickslow failed to notice the two figures that watched him leave. One was a female holding an umbrella, blue hair, blue eyes, blue dress. The other was a man with a monocle, wearing all brown and looking like the earth was giving birth to him.

#

Broken ribs hurt. Having a broken nose also hurt. Everything about Lucy hurt. It wasn’t that Gajeel beat the shit out of her, he was actually pleasant compared to the others. It was being trapped in Juvia’s Water Lock and then the building collapsing as Natsu fought Gajeel.

“Ow.” She cringed as she lay down on her mattress.

“Princess, the other Dragon Slayer has sent you a letter.” Virgo held up an envelope that had an unfamiliar handwriting on it.

“Ok?” Lucy accepted the envelope. Breaking the seal, she read the letter.

**Lucy,**

**Sorry about accidentally knocking your head against a wall as I was kidnapping you back from your guild. And for accidentally elbowing you when Salamander burst into the room. And for falling on you when the building shifted.**

**Maybe I’ll see you again?**

**\- Gajeel**

Lucy shook her head. Why was Gajeel sending her a letter apologizing for accidentally hurting her. Dragon Slayers were weird.

#

“Lucy,” Natsu whispered.

“Yes?” Lucy whispered back despite not knowing why she was whispering.

“Do you think Gajeel will accept my apology for beating him up since he didn’t actually hurt you?” Natsu sounded worried.

Lucy rolled her eyes. Gajeel kept going on and on about how defeating Salamander was his entire reason for agreeing to Jose’s plan. “Probably.” She finally replied.

“Good.” She could hear the relief in her friend’s voice.

#

Bickslow had been pissed all week. Laxus didn’t know and he didn’t really care. The job was going flawlessly. What could be pissing the Seith Mage off so much? Evergreen didn’t know, she did know that Freed knew though.

Freed indeed knew why Bickslow was pissed. He kept trying to calm the larger mage down. So far, Freed had had to lock Bickslow in a Rune cage four times since learning of Phantom Lords’ attack on the guild. Freed knew it had nothing to do with the guild being attacked. It had to do with a certain blonde mage.

Bickslow was still unsure if the younger woman was his childhood friend. And he was pissed that he couldn’t go back to help to make sure she was ok. He was even more upset when he learned that she had gotten kidnapped.

Freed’s solution was for the Raijinshu to go back to the guild. If anything, seeing the blonde and finally discovering that she was in fact Bickslow’s childhood friend would at least make his life easier. Not to mention Freed’s and Evergreen’s as well since neither would be victims of Bickslow’s mean pranks.

Evergreen threatened to burn Bickslow’s house down if she woke up to another morning of his totems hanging her underwear on a light pole. Freed secretly thought the woman was getting off light. Freed was Bickslow’s roommate. And Freed kept waking up to what smelled like piss in his shoes. The piss did not smell like human piss –not even drunk Bickslow would do that –but Bickslow has been known to steal people’s shoes and leave them in a dog park.

Freed was afraid to ask what Bickslow was doing to Laxus. It was a miracle that Laxus hadn’t electrocuted Bickslow out of frustration or revenge.

_Just please let us be heading back to Magnolia soon_. Freed prayed.

“Ok, guys, I have a mission for you.” Laxus said over breakfast.

The Raijinshu groaned. Laxus ignored them.


	5. Chapter 5

Never once in her entire life had Lucy ever wanted to know what being a stone felt like. Or thought. Now she knew. She knew, and it was awful. The only upside to being stone statuary was that she wouldn’t age. She’d be seventeen and beautiful forever. That was the only positive. She was also going to be stuck wearing a cheerleading outfit and holding pompoms. An eternity as a cheerleader statue.

Joy.

#

Bickslow would’ve thought that Gray would’ve been harder to defeat. It was almost hurtful how easy the Ice Make Mage was to defeat. Shaking his head, Bickslow moved on.

A part of him wondered if the girl that looked like His Lucy was a statue or if she was fighting like the others and if he would have to fight her. He hoped not. He didn’t know what type of magic she used. Plus, he didn’t want her to hate him if she was His Lucy.

#

_Fuck!_

Lucy and Bickslow faced off against each other.

_You just had to ask if your day could get any worse. Well surprise, you dumb fuck, it got worse._

Neither wanted to be the first to move.

“So, cosplay queen huh?” Bickslow balanced himself on top of a steeple.

“What? No!” Lucy covered her exposed middle with her arms.

“You’re in a cheerleader outfit, Cosplayer.” Bickslow deadpanned.

Lucy sighed. She did not want to do this. She didn’t want to participate in the Battle of Fairy Tail –she had been calling it that since she pulled a Galatea.

“Lucy,” Happy whispered, “we should go.”

“I’m trying.” Lucy whispered back. “Do you think he’d let me go by? I don’t really want to fight my guild mates.”

Happy shrugged; but it was the type of shrug that translated into ‘probably not.’

“I can’t let you go.” Bickslow confirmed Happy’s silent communication.

Lucy internally cursed.

The pair went back to staring at each other. Lucy’s hands hovered over her keys; Bickslow’s totems hovered menacingly.

_Well, shit._

#

Lucy discovered the downside to fighting a Seith Mage. Every time she blew up one of those totems, Bickslow would just transfer the souls into something else.

“Bastard just had to catch me while on top of a fucking toy store.” Despite everything and the seriousness of the situation, a part of her admired his forethought. If it was indeed forethought. If she survived this, she’d have to ask him if he did it on purpose. Then give him a high five. Because, damn, that was brilliant.

Sagittarius didn’t work, no matter how many times the Celestial Spirit shot down the totems, Bickslow would make more. Seriously, on top of a toy store? Fucking brilliant.

“New plan, then.” Lucy muttered to herself as Bickslow’s newest totems forced the Archer back to the Spirit realm.

Bickslow almost shat himself when he saw Lucy summon a Celestial Spirit. _It’s her!_ His mind screeched at him. But he couldn’t stop. Lucy was his friend, but his totems were his family. He couldn’t have his totems taken away from him.

Bickslow admired her, calling out the weird guy in a horse get-up to shoot arrows at his totems was brilliant, and any other time, Bickslow would have complimented her.

He needed to end this. _Maybe if I use Figure Eyes on her? That way, I can say I won, and I wouldn’t have to actually fight her?_

Yes, that was what Bickslow was going to do. He didn’t want to fight her. She thought his totems were cute. But, he took a deep breath, Laxus. He told his totems to steal Lucy’s keys.

“Hey!” Lucy made a grab for her keys as a weird doll stole her keys.

“I’ll get them!” Happy flew after the doll only to be kicked out of the sky by another weird doll.

“Baryon Formation!” Bickslow commanded. The ray was at half power, it wouldn’t really hurt her, just enough for him to use Figure Eyes so he could control her, so he wouldn’t have to fight her –or risk her fighting Freed.

Lucy closed her eyes when she saw the massive green beam headed towards her, she didn’t want to see her impending doom. Only to feel like she was being picked up.

Opening her eyes, she saw Loke.

“It seems only I can truly get through my gate without your help.” Loke smirked down at her. “This is proof that our love has shattered and transcended the barrier between man and spirit.”

Lucy flushed. “Love? What nonsense are you spewing?” She laughed nervously. _Now is not the time to be spewing your word vomit bullshit, Loke._

“Loke?” Bickslow blinked, trying to change what he was seeing. Loke was a Celestial Spirit? _That kinda makes sense? Maybe? Why's he look like a cat though?_

“Guess now is the time to fulfill my promise.” Loke straightened his sleeve.

“I knew you weren’t human!” Bickslow pointed accusingly at Loke. _His soul was just too weird to be human._ “And you’re going to attack the guy that kept your secret?”

“What?” Lucy muttered.

“Bickslow can see people’s souls.” Happy clarified.

“And now you’ve joined the Battle of Fairy Tail.” Bickslow sighed, resigned. Now he had to fight for real if Loke was there. _Bastard. I wasn’t going to actually hurt her._

_Huh, he’s calling it the same thing I am._ Lucy thought lamely. _I wonder if that was what the plan was called or if it’s just a coincidence._

“I don’t really care what’s going on.” Loke pushed his glasses up further on his nose. “I just won’t forgive anyone who dares to harm my princess, Lucy. No matter what.” The way Loke moved his head had his glasses glinting in the sunlight.

“Won’t forgive?” Bickslow spoke to himself. _Fuck. This is bad. But—_ “You’ve never beaten me once! And I was always holding back!” _Take the hint, dumbass! I’m holding back so I don’t hurt her!_

Loke narrowed his eyes. _Was Bickslow trying to tell him something?_ Like all of Lucy’s Spirits, Loke knew that Bickslow was Lucy’s first human friend.

“Let’s have some fun with this guy, babies!” Bickslow grinned. “Just like old times!” _If you don’t fucking take the hint, you over grown furball, I **will** find a way to throat punch you after this day._

Loke thought he understood what Bickslow was trying to convey. _He mentioned how he always held back. He mentioned the old times. Is he trying to tell me that he didn’t really want to fight Lucy? Why? Bickslow never had a problem with hurting females before. Was Bickslow being forced to do this against his will?_ Loke studied the Seith Mage, there was no aura around him to indicate he was being controlled by an outside source. _Blackmail maybe? But who would know enough about Bickslow to blackmail him?_ Loke’s eyes widened. _Laxus? But why would Laxus blackmail his own friend?_

Loke hoped he was correct. “Stand back, Lucy.”

“No!” Lucy shouted. She didn’t know what the entire exchange between Loke and Bickslow was –she caught the undercurrent, a message between the two men –but she wasn’t about to let her friend fight while she stood back and watched. “We’ll do this together!”

She read Loke’s shock, noticed how he flicked his eyes quickly to Bickslow, Bickslow’s stance become tenser.

_So, there was a message._ She thought in frustration. _What was it?_

Loke saw the exact moment Lucy realized Bickslow had given Loke a secret message. Her eyes cleared, her body relaxed slightly. She had no idea what the message was.

_I don’t know what the message was, but Loke isn’t as upset as before, so it’ll be ok._ Lucy pulled out her whip.

Loke and Lucy exchanged a nod, they understood each other.

“I’ll take care of the dolls, you get Bickslow.” Loke gathered his power.

Lucy nodded.

#

“No matter how many you send, I won’t let them get close to Lucy!” Loke frowned at Bickslow.

Was the Seith Mage just trying to wear out his own magic containers?

“Now!” Lucy hissed to Happy.

Happy picked her up, depositing Lucy right next to Bickslow, her whip unfurling and striking him.

“Hey! What the hell, Cosplayer?” Bickslow screeched as the whip ripped through his shirt.

“Don’t call me that!” Lucy yelled, readying the whip for another attack.

“Lucy! Keep it up! Bickslow is weak in combat skills!” Loke hoped Bickslow would let Lucy get him so the fight would end.

“What the fuck, dude?” Bickslow yelled at Loke. _How did Loke know I was weak in combat?_

Lucy lashed her whip again, aiming for Bickslow’s head so she could knock him out by introducing his head to the wall.

_Shit. I didn’t want to do this._ “No other choice, then.” Bickslow doffed his helmet and hood, revealing his face.

_Holy shit, he’s brilliant and attractive._ Lucy screeched at her brain. _Now is **NOT** the time to be admiring his features!_

“Figure Eyes!” Bickslow’s eyes started glowing green, so did his aura.

_You asshole! That’s one way to end the fight, I guess._ Loke narrowed his eyes. He knew every member of the Raijinshu had a secondary magic.

“Don’t look him in the eyes!” Happy yelled.

Lucy and Loke clamped their eyes shut.

_Smart cat. Who knew?_ Bickslow thought. He sent his babies to dive bomb the trio.

“Nobody has ever beaten my Doll Possession and Figure Eyes combo!” Bickslow cackled. Again, his attacks weren’t at full power, he just wanted Lucy decommissioned enough he could use Figure Eyes so he could make her go somewhere safe, away from all the fighting. Loke, eh, Bickslow didn’t really care about Loke.

“Lucy,” Loke said, “I’ll go back so you can summon Horologium.” He turned to where he heard Lucy crying out in pain.

“He took all my keys away!” Lucy screeched. “Plus,” she panted, “I have faith in you, so, go get him!” She was yelling by the end.

Loke smiled. “You got it.” Thinking furiously, pride welling in his soul at her words, the Spirit thought about what he could do to help his princess. “Lucy, when I give you the signal open your eyes and charge him!”

“But-,” she was cut off.

“You trust me, right?” She could hear the smile in Loke’s voice.

“Of course!” Lucy smiled back.

_Oh, thank gods._ Bickslow never wanted to win anyway. And if Loke had an idea of how to end this fight then Bickslow was all for it.

“Zenith of Regulus: Lion’s Brilliance!” Loke shouted.

Bickslow watched as Loke started glowing, brighter and brighter, like the sun. Finally, Loke became too bright for Bickslow to keep his eyes open, even with his eyes closed Loke was garishly bright. _This hurts. Damn, Loke._

“Now, Princess!” Loke cried.

“Got it!” Lucy opened her eyes. Running towards Bickslow, she shot her whip out, it wrapped around the Seith Mage, pulling it taught.

“There’s no way you can defeat me, Loke.” Bickslow’s eyes hurt. _Have I gone blind?_

“I’m not the same as I was back then.” Loke’s golden power coursed through his body. “I met Lucy, and I regained my true powers as a Spirit.” He now stood ten feet in front of Bickslow. “No, I met Lucy and have gotten even stronger.” The Lion could see Lucy struggling to keep Bickslow wrapped in her whip. “Regulus Impact!” Loke shot off a beam of golden light straight towards Bickslow.

The beam hit the Seith Mage, knocking the mage five miles away.

The trio looked at the destruction caused by Loke’s beam and Bickslow’s passage.

“Loke,” Lucy started, “you broke my whip.”

Loke blinked. “Hmm?”

The Lion Spirit looked at Lucy’s whip. She was correct. The part that had been wrapped around Bickslow was now five miles away. Lucy now held a halved whip, the tattered end laying limping on the roof.

Loke and Lucy burst into laughter.

“You guys are weird.” Happy said.

That only made the Celestial Mage and Spirit laugh harder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Galatea -from the play Pygmalion and Galatea by W.S. Gilbert. It's based off the story of Pygmalion.


	6. Chapter 6

Entering his house, Bickslow chunked his helmet so hard away from himself he dented his living room wall. –How his helmet was still perfectly fine even after being blown five miles with him, Bickslow hadn’t a clue. How his helmet was still with him was a mystery in itself. –

“Fuck!” He screamed as he punched his entry-way wall.

Pulling back, he now had to fix two spots in his walls. He didn’t care.

He fought Lucy. She beat him, he tried to use his Figure Eyes on her. It was only by sheer genius on Loke’s part that Bickslow didn’t have to resort to Figure Eyes. What had he been thinking? Nothing! He wasn’t thinking about anything other than how Laxus would punish him if Bickslow didn’t do what he had been ordered to do.

And, being honest with himself, Bickslow enjoyed fighting his fellow guildmates. Especially the ones like Gray that called him a freak or said his totems were creepy.

Bickslow finally settled himself in his favorite chair, having ripped off everything down to his underwear.

Pappa floated over, the tiny totem settled on Bickslow’s shoulder.

Bickslow placed his head in his hands. “She’s going to hate me now.” He would not cry. It didn’t matter to him that he had been fighting at half strength.

Pappa said nothing. What could the totem say? Laxus had threatened each member of the Raijinshu to get what he wanted. The Lightning Dragon Slayer had threatened Bickslow more than Freed and Evergreen. Pappa couldn’t have told Bickslow that he and the other totems would have been fine with Laxus destroying them if it meant that Bickslow didn’t have to participate in the Battle of Fairy Tail.

Bickslow loved his totems, loved his totems more than his own life most of the time. More concerned with giving his five souls new homes before ever seeing a doctor or healer.

“It really was her.” Bickslow lost the battle, the tears making tracks down his face.

Pappa could do nothing but comfort his master. The other four totems floated over as well, arranging themselves around Bickslow, trying their best to comfort the poor man.

#

Loke was at his wit’s end. His princess had been crying nonstop for the past four days. Currently, Virgo was comforting her while she soaked in her tub. How Virgo convinced Lucy to let the Maid Spirit bathe her was a mystery. Or maybe Lucy was so out of it she didn’t even register who was bathing her?

“What if it was him?” Lucy sobbed onto Virgo’s shoulder.

Loke blinked, when did Virgo get in the tub with Lucy? Like all of Lucy’s newest Spirits, he had been given a quick visual history of Lucy’s life. Aquarius had made him watch the video of Lucy playing with a blue-haired boy for one day several times. Loke knew that the Bickslow Lucy played with was the same Bickslow that was a member of the guild. The same Bickslow she fought earlier in the week. Fought and defeated. Loke smiled in feral pride. He had often wondered if he could defeat Bickslow. His pride diminished as he remembered that Bickslow hadn’t fought at full power. Why did the Seith Mage pull his punches?

Virgo’s smooth voice brought Loke back to the moment.

“Princess, I’m not sure it’s possible to hate you.” Virgo gently scrubbed Lucy’s left foot.

“But I defeated him!” Lucy sniffled. “No guy likes a girl that beats him up!”

Virgo put down Lucy’s left foot, began scrubbing the Celestial Mage’s right foot. “Princess, if that was true then Freed would not be in love with Mirajane. Nor would Laxus suddenly have delayed interest in Levy.”

Lucy stopped at Virgo’s revelation. She stopped crying, she stopped trying to pull her foot away from the Spirit, she stopped breathing. “What?”

Virgo stood up, her maid’s uniform somehow completely dry. “Let’s get you ready for the parade. Cancer will be out shortly to do your hair.”

#

She was beautiful in her pink outfit. It was strange, Levy and Bisca were in the exact outfit but Lucy really made it. Again, Bickslow was glad he wore a visor. He could watch her all he wanted, and nobody be the wiser.

“Hey, Bickslow.”

Bickslow turned to see a dejected Happy hovering next to him.

“Yeah, little man?” Bickslow made a habit of never calling people outside the Raijinshu by their names.

“Do you hate me?”

Bickslow blinked several times. Happy, one of Bickslow’s would be victims was asking if Bickslow hated him. “Nah, course not, little man.”

“Really?” Happy perked right up.

Bickslow couldn’t help his laugh. It reminded him of Lucy. “Really, really.”

“Yay!” Happy flew in a twirl before settling on Bickslow’s head.

Bickslow shrugged his shoulders, content with letting the blue cat hang up there for as long as he wanted. Bickslow could continue watching Lucy in perfect anonymity.

Unsure of how long he stood there with Happy on his head, watching Lucy, he noticed Gajeel –the Iron Dragon Slayer, the guy that kidnapped and tortured Lucy by all accounts –approach Lucy. Bickslow was more surprised to see the two laughing and joking with each other.

“Gajeel lllliiikkkkkesss her!” Happy giggled.

“Didn’t he beat the shit out of her?” Bickslow puzzled.

“Nah, he just pretended to.” Happy happily informed the Seith Mage. “Most of her injuries were caused from the Phantom Lord guild collapsing on her and Juvia’s Water Lock.”

“Huh.”

“Wanna go tease her?” Happy giggled.

“I doubt she’d accept it from me.” Bickslow laughed, nervously scratching his chin.

“Why would you say that?” Happy flew to hover in from of Bickslow’s face.

“Because she probably hates me.” Bickslow scratched his chin again. “It’s ok though. I deserve it.”

“But Lushy doesn’t hate anybody.” Happy rolled his eyes. “She’s incapable of it.”

“For reals? Cosplayer doesn’t hate me?” Bickslow might have sounded too eager on his questions. He didn’t care.

“No.” Happy giggled again. “Wanna go tease her?”

“What are we waiting for, little man?” Bickslow gestured for Happy to precede him.

#

Lucy liked Gajeel, he was a weirdo, but he was a hilarious weirdo. And rather sweet once you got past all the gruff.

“So, Bunny,” Gajeel smirked.

“Yeah, Bronze?” Lucy giggled.

“Bronze?” Gajeel questioned in mock offense. “I am an Iron Dragon Slayer! Not Bronze! Iron!” He ruffled Lucy’s hair.

“What?” Lucy’s face showed shock. “You mean bronze and iron aren’t the same thing?”

“No! They’re two completely different metals!” Gajeel frowned.

“Oh, no! My tutors have failed me!” Lucy held a hand to her forehead. “Whatever shall I do? Despair! Woe is me!”

She and Gajeel burst into laughter at the same time.

“You ok though?” She carefully touched Gajeel’s arm.

Gajeel shrugged, he was covered in bandages. “I’m fine.” He winced as his injuries twinged. “Ish. I’m fine ish. I’ll survive.”

Lucy rolled her eyes. “Well, yeah. Nothing can hurt Black Steel.” She poked his cheek, one of the few parts of the Iron Dragon Slayer that wasn’t bruised.

Gajeel snapped at her finger. “Watch it, Bunny.” His growl wasn’t very convincing.

Lucy giggled again.

Gajeel sniffed, his smile melting away from his face. Leaning to kiss Lucy on the cheek, he clambered up, leaning on his crutch. “Happy and Bickslow headed our way. I’ll see you later alright?”

Lucy nodded. “Alright.”

Lucy watched as Gajeel limped away and out of the guild. When he said he would see her later he meant he’d be camping outside of her apartment until she got home. She had no idea what Gajeel wanted from her, but he was funny, and he enjoyed watching awful movies with her. Plus, his favorite Valentine’s Day movie was ‘Valentine’.

“Should we tease her over Gajeel?” Happy whispered conspiring with Bickslow.

“Nah,” Bickslow noticed the way the two mages interacted with each other. “How about her and Loke? We heard him declare his undying love to her.” Bickslow wasn’t sure what the relationship between Lucy and the Iron Dragon Slayer was, but he wasn’t about to tease her over somebody she could actually like.

Happy giggled behind his hand, he flew off to bother Lucy. Bickslow shook his head and followed behind the cat.

Lucy swatted at Happy as the annoying cat hovered around her head.

“So, you and Loke are together?” Bickslow spoke by Lucy’s ear.

Lucy jumped, throwing her hands up and hitting Bickslow in the face.

“She lllliiiiikkkkkkeeessss him!” Happy giggled, flying to Bickslow’s shoulder.

“Ugh.” Lucy lowered her head to the table top.

“You lllliiiiikkkkkke him!” Bickslow laughed, his tongue lolling out.

“I don’t like him!” Lucy’s head snapped up, she turned a baleful eye to the Seith Mage, her angry retort dying on her lips as she saw the way Bickslow wiggled his tongue around.

Without thinking, Lucy clambered up on the bench, turned around, clamping both hands on either side of Bickslow’s face.

Bickslow and Happy stilled.

_Maybe she does hate Bickslow._ Happy thought, gazing at Lucy’s narrowed intense gaze focused entirely on the Seith Mage.

_Shit!_ Bickslow thought; he froze, his tongue stopped mid-wiggle, his body tensed, even his totems stilled.

Lucy slowly removed Bickslow’s visor, tossing it over her shoulder, it clanged on the table top before bouncing onto the floor. The noise garnered the attention of the closest guild members. As they looked on, they too saw how intense Lucy’s gaze was.

Lucy brought Bickslow’s face closer to her own, when his face was four inches away from her, she took the time to run her gaze over every inch of the Seith Mage’s features.

Bickslow did nothing, Happy did nothing, the watching guild members did nothing.

“What’s she doing?” Gray asked Natsu, the two of them stopped mid-fight, Gray’s fist on Natsu’s cheek.

“I don’t know.” Natsu answered, his fist on Gray’s stomach.

Bickslow’s gaze flickered around him, trying to find Freed, or Evergreen, silently pleading for some help. _She’s gonna punch me._

Lucy studied Bickslow’s face intently. She thought she recognized his face briefly during the fight and she thought earlier that this Bickslow was her childhood playmate, but it wasn’t until he wiggled his tongue that recognition fully hit.

“Bigslow?” Lucy said slowly.

Bickslow blinked at the word. As a child, Lucy couldn’t pronounce his name at first. She had called him Bigslow. His eyes snapped back to hers.

“Bix-low.” He corrected her.

“May I call you Bix instead? I can’t really pronounce your name.” Lucy’s smile was tentative.

“Sure.” And he knew she remembered him.

Lucy laughed, throwing her arms around his shoulders. “Your tongue got longer.”

Bickslow wrapped his arms around her, spinning her in a circle. “Well, that happens when you become a boring adult.”

He sat her feet back on the bench, this way they were the same height –sort of, he was still slightly taller.

Lucy pouted. “If you’re boring then I don’t want to meet an interesting adult.”

Bickslow threw his head back and laughed.

“Hey, Luce,” Natsu’s confused voice broke in, “what’s going on.”

“Bix and I are friends, Natsu.” Lucy rolled her eyes as she looked at her teammate.

“Since when?” Natsu scratched his head.

“Since Cosplayer said my tongue was cool.” Bickslow laughed even as Lucy hit him over the nickname.

“You better be glad we’re friends or I’d get you for that nickname.” Lucy rolled her eyes, plopping back down on the bench.

Bickslow laughed, lolling his tongue out again, he plopped down right beside her, they had years to catch up on.

The rest of the guild slowly went back to normal.

“Hey, Cosplayer you know what?” Bickslow whispered.

“What, Bix?” Lucy whispered back.

“I’m glad we’re friends again.” He flashed a smile down at her.

“Why?” Lucy asked.

“My problems have all gone; there’s no one to deride me!” Bickslow belted out. “But you got to have friends!”

His totems echoed him.

Lucy burst into laughter. “STOP SINGING!” Bickslow joined her, both hanging over each other and the table, clutching their sides. “It’s no wonder you don’t have any friends.”

“Wow!” Bickslow widened his eyes, speaking between laughs. “Only a true friend would be that cruelly honest!”

The pair devolved into a fit of giggles again.

The rest of the guild shook their heads. Their shared thoughts: Wow, those two are basically the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I keep quoting 'Shrek' & just talking about it b/c I freaking love that movie. I love the entire series. More people should love 'Shrek.' And full disclosure, I will be quoting all 4 movies throughout this work.
> 
> 'Valentine' -is a movie released in 2001, it's a slasher/teen film, & I watch it every Valentine's Day.


	7. Chapter 7

“Bigsie!” Lucy shouted as she came barreling into the guild hall, tears streaming down her face.

“Cosplayer!” Bickslow jumped off the second-floor balcony to wrap her into a hug. “What’s wrong? Tell Ol’ Bigsie.”

He led her over to a free bench, their teams following already knowing that some form of drama would ensue.

“It’s horrible! It’s Gajeel!” She sniffled.

“What about Gajeel?” One of Bickslow’s totems brought Lucy a box of tissues.

Lucy blew her nose but before she could answer, Gajeel pushed his way into the guild and to the table Lucy, Bickslow, and their respective teams occupied.

“Bunny, you can’t run off like that.” The Iron Dragon Slayer was panting. _Damn, Lucy is a fast runner._

She sniffed again, burying her face in Bickslow’s chest.

“Gajeel, I think you better tell me what you did to my Cosplayer.” Bickslow kissed the top of Lucy’s head.

“It’s no big deal.” Gajeel rolled his eyes.

“She’s crying, man!” Bickslow admonished the blonde girl’s boyfriend.

Gajeel ground his teeth together. He should’ve known that this is what would happen the minute he and Lucy became an official couple. Dating Lucy came with certain packages. The daddy issues and the need to feel like she wasn’t being controlled Gajeel could deal with. He could even deal with her weird ass Spirits, the constant need Loke had to protect her from all things guy related, and her own team. But Bickslow? Gajeel wasn’t entirely sure he could deal with the man himself when Lucy wasn’t involved let alone the man that decided he was Lucy’s Knight in Shining Armor since they reconnected. Between Loke and Bickslow it was amazing Gajeel was even able to take Lucy on a date.

“She just found out something about me. It’s no big deal.” Gajeel ran a hand through his hair.

Bickslow frowned at Gajeel, rubbing Lucy’s arm comfortingly. “Come on, Cosplayer, what did you find out that’s got you so upset?”

Lucy sniffed again, pulling her head from Bickslow’s chest, looking up at her friend. “He’s never seen ‘Shrek’, Bigsie.”

Bickslow’s jaw dropped. “Are you fucking kidding me?” He shouted.

Gajeel held a small glimmer of hope that Bickslow would be on his side. It was dashed when the Seith Mage turned wide, scandalized eyes to Gajeel. The Iron Dragon Slayer ignored the scandalized and disgusted looks of Lucy’s and Bickslow’s team. –Really, this guild was full of fucking weirdos.—

“You’ve never seen ‘Shrek’?” The Seith Mage scooted away from the Iron Dragon Slayer. “Even Laxus has seen ‘Shrek’. Laxus!”

Gajeel could feel a migraine coming on.

“Even Mystogan has seen ‘Shrek’.” Mira supplied helpfully as she delivered a cup of hot coco to the crying Celestial Mage.

“Even Gildarts has seen that movie.” Natsu whispered in horror. “Gildarts, Gajeel!”

“It’s ok, Cosplayer. Your Bigsie is here and I’ll make sure he never says a thing to make you cry again.” Bickslow slowly pulled Lucy onto his lap, positioning her so that he could carry her far away from her boyfriend, placing her cup of coco on Poppo’s head.

Her boyfriend was two seconds away from pulling out an Iron Dragon’s Roar on the entire guild of absolute morons that he had the displeasure of knowing and working with on a daily basis.

“But, Bigsie,” Lucy placed a staying hand on Bickslow’s shoulder.

“Yeah, Cosplayer?” Bickslow stopped trying to stand up.

“I really like him and, while it hurt my feelings, I don’t think I can really blame him for never seeing the movie.” Lucy stated solemnly.

“Hmm.” Bickslow leaned his back against the table, Lucy still in his lap. He picked up the cup of coco from Poppo’s head, placing it into Lucy’s after blowing on it to cool it down. “You sure you like him enough to get over this?” He asked seriously.

“I really do.” Lucy said, taking a tentative sip of her coco.

Bickslow leaned down and took a sip of the coco after Lucy offered him some. “Well, then, there’s only one way to fix this.” He sounded stern. Lucy giggled at the chocolate moustache Bickslow suddenly had. “You know what I’m talking about, Cosplayer.”

Lucy’s eyes widened. “No!” She brought a hand up to cover her mouth.

“Oh, yes. It’s the only way.” Bickslow nodded emphatically.

Lucy turned pitying eyes to Gajeel. “It’s for your own good, you know.”

“Uh, what the fuck are you two lunatics blathering about?” Gajeel ran his hands over his face.

Lucy and Bickslow looked at each other. Bickslow deposited the now empty cup of coco on the table, he and Lucy sporting matching chocolate moustaches. They nodded at each other.

“You sure it’s the only way?” Lucy whispered dramatically.

“I’m sure. Trust me. I’m a boring adult.” Bickslow whispered back just as dramatically.

As one, they turned to gaze seriously at Gajeel.

Gajeel leaned away from their stares.

“Marathon!” Lucy and Bickslow shouted in unison.

“Marathon?” Gajeel blinked. That was not what he was expecting.

“Marathon!” Bickslow stood up, leaning over the table he dropped Lucy into Gajeel’s lap.

“I own all four movies!” Lucy kissed Gajeel’s cheek. “Even the holiday specials.”

“Come babies! Carry the happy couple to her apartment! We must commence with the marathon at once!” Bickslow shouted, pointing towards the door.

“We’re doing this now?” Gajeel yelped as he felt himself lifted into the air by three of Bickslow’s five totems.

“Why not?” Lucy asked, snuggling closer to Gajeel. “We were going to watch a movie anyway.”

“Yeah, at the local movie theater!” Gajeel turned his head to look at Mirajane and the others as he floated away with his gorgeous –albeit insane –girlfriend in his arms.

“Race you to your place?” Bickslow asked Lucy.

“You’re on!” Lucy cried back. “Let’s go guys!”

The three totems carrying the couple shot out of the guild, Bickslow running close behind. Gajeel’s screams of terror was the last thing anybody heard before the guild doors slammed shut.

“How has he never seen ‘Shrek’?” Natsu asked to the room at large.

“He’s just weird I guess.” Gray shook his head.

“Poor guy. That movie is awesome.” Natsu shook his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, this story is totes about Bickslow & Lucy, the two adorable idiots just need a while to realize they are in love with each other. Gajeel and Lucy don't last forever.


	8. Chapter 8

Gajeel could only shake his head at his girlfriend’s antics. She and Bickslow were having a very strange game of tag? Gajeel assumed it was tag. It involved Bickslow’s totems and Lucy’s Spirits. He couldn’t understand the rules though. Lucy and Bickslow were at the opposite side of the guild, the Spirits and totems in the middle chasing each other back and forth as Bickslow and Lucy conferred with other. Sometimes the Spirits would be on Bickslow’s side, the totems on Lucy’s and then something would happen, and they’d change sides again. Gajeel could hear everything being said between the two friends and their respective magic minions –was minions the right term for Lucy’s Spirits? --but he’d no clue whatever the phrase the pair uttered meant. He recognized the words, but the way the words were used were strange to him.

“Here’s your lunch order.” Mirajane smiled at Gajeel as she placed three burgers on the table.

“Thanks, Mira.” Gajeel responded. “Hey, you weirdos! Food!”

Gajeel shook his head as he saw the way Bickslow and Lucy both perked up at the word. A pierced brow rose as Bickslow tackled Lucy to the ground, knocking over several other guild members and a table before the Seith Mage was back up, Lucy slung over his shoulder as he sprinted towards the table.

Breathless, Bickslow dumped Lucy in Gajeel’s lap before plopping down to eat his burger.

“What was that about?” Gajeel ignored the sound of a guild wide brawl filtering into his ears.

“I needed Lucy’s help to get back at Freed.” Bickslow’s tongue lolling smile was diabolical.

“Really?” Gajeel placed his girlfriend on the bench beside him, despite how much he enjoyed Lucy feeding him fries, he knew Lucy wouldn’t eat if she was sitting in his lap, not until she had fed Gajeel every bite of his lunch.

“He tackled me on top of Freed.” Lucy munched on a fry. “Poor Freed is still probably on the floor, bleeding to death.”

“His face wind up in your boobs?” Gajeel knew that he almost died of blood loss every time Lucy’s chest got shoved into his face.

Lucy huffed; Bickslow cackled. “It was great!”

Lucy threw a fry at him, Bickslow caught it with his mouth.

“Please refrain from using my girlfriend to exact your revenge.” Gajeel couldn’t believe that even had to be said.

“You got it, rusty!” Bickslow snapped his fingers at Gajeel.

_Rusty?_ Gajeel glanced at Lucy. He and Lucy locked eyes. His were asking why Bickslow would be calling him a nickname. Lucy’s was saying she had no idea.

“He did kind of deserve it though.” Lucy held a fry up to her upper lip, giving herself a fry moustache.

“Really?” Gajeel took a bite of his burger, snickering as Lucy ate her burger while keeping the fry in place on her upper lip.

“He said the ‘Emperor’s New Groove’ was better than ‘Mulan’.”

“What? Is he a complete dumbass or somethin’?” Gajeel asked. “Everybody knows ‘Mulan’ is better than that movie!”

“I know, right?” Bickslow now had fry walrus teeth and fry moustache.

Gajeel glanced over at Lucy, placing his head in his hands when he saw his sweet, beautiful, girlfriend had fry eyebrows to match her moustache. _How is she even able to keep the fries on her face?_ The Iron Dragon Slayer shook his head. There was no telling.

Gajeel finished his burger, ignoring his two lunch companions as they tried to have an unspoken competition on who could keep the most fries on their face.

Mirajane and Gajeel exchanged a look. People stopped questioning Lucy’s and Bickslow’s friendship a while ago, the two were oddly perfect together.

#

Bickslow and Gajeel exchanged worried looks. Lucy and the others were gone for much longer than they were supposed to. Neither mage had wanted Lucy to go with her team to fight the Oracion Seis. Hell, even Lucy didn’t want to go. But Master had insisted. It was the only time Gajeel and Bickslow had argued with the older gentleman.

Both the Iron Dragon Slayer and Seith Mage brought up the fact that Lucy didn’t want to go. Neither mentioned how they were worried. Bickslow and Gajeel had traveled more than Lucy. Both knew of the seedy underbelly of Fiore more than her. Both had seen the result of that particular dark guild. Neither wanted Lucy anywhere near Oracion Seis.

Team Natsu was late. And there was no word as to what transpired. The other guilds in the alliance were also silent. It did not bode well.

Was Lucy safe? Was she hurting? What was going on?

Gajeel and Bickslow sank deeper in their respective seats; Bickslow’s on the second floor, Gajeel’s next to Levy.

Where was Lucy?

#

Evergreen pretended to read. Worry over Bickslow taking up too much room in her mind to pay attention to the book and its explanation on the finer points of Take-Over Magic.

She wondered if Bickslow knew he was in love with Lucy? Knowing the man, probably not. She wondered if anybody figured out that Bickslow was in love with Lucy? Evergreen’s eyes flicked over to Gajeel. Gajeel seemed to realize that Bickslow felt something more than just friendship to Lucy, but the Iron Dragon Slayer hadn’t realized it was love yet.

And what did Lucy feel? That was the question.

Evergreen didn’t want to see Bickslow heartbroken.

#

Freed sat at the bar, his gaze playing a tennis match between Bickslow and Gajeel; several thoughts going through his very organized mind.

Bickslow was in love with Lucy.

Bickslow did not realize he was in love with Lucy.

Gajeel knew Bickslow was in love with Lucy.

Gajeel had not admitted to himself that he knew Bickslow’s feelings.

Gajeel was not in love with Lucy.

Bickslow had fallen head over heels in love with Lucy the minute she remembered him in the guild after Fantasia.

And Lucy?

What about Lucy?

Lucy was not in love with Gajeel.

Lucy was in love with Bickslow.

Lucy did not realize she was in love with Bickslow.

Lucy feel in love with Bickslow when he blew on her cup of hot coco after she found out Gajeel had never seen ‘Shrek.’

Freed watched as Bickslow and Gajeel exchanged another worried look.

#

Mirajane knew a great many things, being the bartender, barmaid, and waitress for the entire guild gave her a certain amount of invisibility and leeway. Freed’s almost new permanent residence at her bar was something she didn’t know the reason of.

Mirajane did know why the Rune Mage’s eyes kept flicking between Bickslow and Gajeel. It seemed like everybody in the guild but Bickslow, Gajeel, and Lucy knew the truth. Bickslow and Lucy were in love with each other, Gajeel only loved Lucy as a friend and nothing more.

Gajeel probably thought he was in love with Lucy because she was the only Fairy Tail member he had any sort of positive interaction with before he joined, then she was instrumental in getting everybody else to accept him. But that was gratitude not love.

Mirajane smiled at Freed. “So, Freed, a refill?”

Freed turned his gorgeous blue eyes to meet Mirajane’s aquamarine ones. “No, thank you, Mira.” He smiled before he continued his monitoring of his friend and the Iron Dragon Slayer.

Mirajane sighed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooo! We got some almost realization here, folks


	9. Chapter 9

Cobra looked at the so-called Alliance of legal guilds. Pathetic. The lot of them.

Except –he caught a trill of a sound and focused on it. Interesting. Another Celestial Mage. His mouth curled up into a sneer. Angel would have a difficult time beating this one.

The Poison Dragon Slayer cut his eyes over to Angel. Yeah, Oracion Seis’ Celestial Mage would be having a very difficult time defeating the blonde woman.

Cobra started cackling. This new information was just too hilarious. Bending over, he ignored his guild mates as the hilarity of the situation made him gasp for air.

_You met your match with Starshine over there, Angel._

#

_Oh, fuck me._ Lucy thought, her eyes going wide. _Please, please, please tell me we are not about to go over a damn waterfall!_

Her senses screamed back that they could, in fact, not give her that comfort, and that she was about to go over a waterfall with a sick Natsu.

For some dumb reason, her mind flashed to the conversation she had over lunch with Gajeel and Bickslow several days before. About how ‘Mulan’ was clearly a better movie than ‘The Emperor’s New Groove.’ And how Gajeel had actually seen both and agreed with Lucy and Bickslow that ‘Mulan’ was infinitely to be preferred. Something about the song “I’ll Make a Man Out of You.”

Now though, now her brain was going over the waterfall scene from ‘The Emperor’s New Groove.’

**_“Uh-oh.” Pacha says*._ **

**_“Don’t tell me. We’re about to go over a huge waterfall.” Kuzco deadpans._ **

**_“Yep.”_ **

**_“Sharp rocks at the bottom?”_ **

**_“Most likely.”_ **

“Bring it on.” Lucy says to herself, holding Natsu closer as they tumble over the waterfall.

#

Team Natsu limped into guild hall. First there was Natsu and Gray supporting each other. Happy came in second. Erza third. The fourth was a little bluenette, Wendy, the Sky Dragon Slayer. But where was Lucy?

Bickslow dropped down from the second-floor balcony as Gajeel walked closer to Erza. Later, Gajeel would try and get to know the newest Dragon Slayer in the guild but now he was more concerned on where his girlfriend was.

“Hey, Red,” Bickslow said, “where’s Cosplayer?”

Erza started guiltily.

_Oh, fuck. No!_

Bickslow and Gajeel blanched. _Please let her be ok._

Erza realized she hadn’t said anything and the two men in front of her were fearing the worst.

“Is Cos-,” Bickslow swallowed, “is Lucy ok? Is she with Porlyusica?”

Erza smiled softly. _It’s amazing what knowing Lucy has done to these two men. She really is amazing._ “No, she just wanted to stop by a bakery. She’s celebrating something with her Spirits.”

Gajeel breathed a sigh of relief. _Of course, she is._ He rolled his eyes. His Bunny was always rewarding her Spirits after particularly hard fights.

“You sure she’s ok though? She wasn’t too injured?” Bickslow ran a hand over his hair. Lucy was a magnet for trouble. And she was always disregarding her own injuries.

“Yes, in fact, all of us were healed by our newest healer.” Erza beckoned Wendy over. “Wendy specializes in healing.”

“Hi.” Wendy spoke softly, nervously, doing a little wave at the two men that frightened her.

Gajeel sniffed. _Sky Magic. Yeah, Bunny’s fine._ He clapped Bickslow on the shoulder. “Bunny’s fine, man. Sky Magic is one of the best healing powers out there.” He smiled at the little Dragon Slayer.

Wendy tentatively smiled back.

Bickslow studied the little girl. _She’s a healer._ The Seith Mage turned to Erza. “Do you know what bakery she stopped at?”

Erza shook her head. “No, it changes with each Spirit since each one has different tastes.”

Bickslow’s frown deepened. “Alright.” He walked off, heading back to the second floor.

Gajeel shrugged, pulling Wendy off to the side, motioning for Natsu to join them. The three of them going to have a little Dragon Slayer conference.

Erza watched Bickslow leave. _Why was he more concerned about Lucy than Gajeel?_ Erza looked between the two men. Gajeel, upon hearing Wendy’s powers had immediately relaxed. Bickslow had gotten tenser. _Is Bickslow in love with Lucy? Or was he just a really concerned friend?_

#

Lucy sauntered into the guild. She had spent a lovely afternoon getting to know her four new Spirits. Caulum was a little difficult to get to know. Scorpio didn’t stay long, he had a date with Aquarius. Gemini was a prankster and Lucy would have to make sure that the Twins Spirit and Bickslow never got to spend too long together. The mayhem those three could cause. Lucy giggled at the thought. Aries was interesting though. The poor thing was almost too timid but that was fine, Lucy would give Aries her confidence back.

“Cosplayer!”

Lucy glanced up just in time to see a giant blue figure and five totems come flying at her before she was tackled in a massive hug.

“Bigsie!” Lucy gasped. “Humans need air!”

Lucy found herself in Bickslow’s lap while he sat on the floor, his totems twirling around the pair worriedly. Bickslow had her face pressed so far into his shoulder she really was having a difficult time breathing.

“Bickslow, I must insist you let my Princess breathe.” Virgo popped out.

A tug-of-war ensued over Lucy.

The guild as a whole shrugged and resumed what they were doing.

#

Gajeel watched the tug-of-war between the Seith Mage and Virgo with a funny expression on his face and an even stranger feeling in his heart.

The way the Seith Mage reacted to Lucy was……

Gajeel stood, walking over to Freed, the greenette ever present at the bar.

“Hey, Wordsmith, I need to talk to you.” Gajeel grunted at the Rune Mage.

Freed glanced up from his book, noted the look in Gajeel’s eyes. “Alright, we may talk in the library.”

Gajeel nodded and followed as Freed led the Iron Dragon Slayer to the guild’s library on the second floor.

The library was spacious and covered in so many protection Runes that Gajeel shivered as he entered.

Freed sat in an overstuffed green chair. Gajeel snickered, the chair matched Freed’s hair exactly. Gajeel did not sit.

“Bickslow is in love with Lucy, isn’t he.” It wasn’t a question.

Freed started, studying the Iron Dragon Slayer. “Yes.”

Gajeel ran a hand over his face. “Does he know?”

Freed shook his. “Bickslow isn’t aware of his true feelings when it comes to Lucy.”

Gajeel collapsed onto the chair opposite Freed.

The Rune Mage let Gajeel think. After all, the revelation that somebody else was in love with your girlfriend was a difficult one to process.

“I believe he’s been in love with her since after Fantasia.” Freed offered.

“Since she recognized him?” Gajeel spoke from behind his hands.

Freed started. He thought Gajeel had left before it was revealed Bickslow and Lucy knew each other.

“I left the building, I didn’t leave.” Gajeel sighed, running a hand through his hair. “She’s in love with him, too, isn’t she?”

“Yes.”

“Since when?” Gajeel didn’t know why he was torturing himself.

Freed hemmed. “That’s a little harder to pinpoint as I don’t know her as well as Bickslow.”

“Just tell me when you ‘think’ it started then.” Gajeel closed his eyes. _Mages that use words, you’re all the same, gotta be a precise and accurate as possible with your magic but, damn, you can guess when it comes to real life._

“When he blew on her hot cup of coco the day everybody found out you had never seen ‘Shrek.’”

Gajeel let out a string of curses. “Does she realize it?”

“No.” Freed could console the man this way.

“That somehow does not make me feel better.” Gajeel mumbled.

The two of them sat in tense silence for a long while.

“Oh, Gajeel!” Lucy sounded relieved. “I was afraid you’d left already.” She walked over to the Iron Dragon Slayer, leaned over, pressing a kiss to his forehead.

“No, Bunny,” Gajeel smiled sadly at his girlfriend, rubbing her back. “I haven’t left. I was just having a conversation with Wordsmith here.”

Lucy blinked at Gajeel for a second before bursting into laughter. “Wordsmith? Oh, my gods, Gajeel, that is hilariously awesome!”

She giggled.

Gajeel and Freed exchanged looks before both caught on to the nickname.

“Wow, Gajeel, look at you, being subtly clever.” Freed teased the other man.

“Shut up! I’m clever!” Gajeel’s rancor had no heat behind it.

The three mages only laughed harder.

“So, want me to cook dinner tonight?” Lucy asked her boyfriend after the laughter died down.

“Uh, nah, let’s go out to dinner, ok?” Gajeel smiled up at the blonde. When she looked like she was about to argue, he pushed on. “My treat! As a congratulations on getting four new friends. You can tell me all about your new Spirits, alright?”

Lucy brightened. She loved talking about her Spirits. “Ok!”

_Thank you, Erza for bringing it up._ Gajeel patted Lucy’s back. “I have to finish talking to Rune-boy now. I’ll meet you downstairs, ok?”

“Ok!” Lucy smiled brightly at her boyfriend, waved at Freed, flouncing out of the library.

The two mages waited until they heard Lucy shouting at Mirajane for a to-go order of tea that the they went back to their previous conversation.

“I can’t do that to her.” Gajeel shook his head.

“Dating her?” Freed arched an eyebrow.

“Yeah, because what if she’s dating me when she realizes that she’s in love with him? She wouldn’t break up with me even if it meant she’d be unhappy because me being with her makes me happy and she’d never do anything to make a loved one unhappy.” _We are totally not bringing up her asshole of a father._

Freed quickly hid his surprise. _Who knew Gajeel was so perceptive?_ “You’re going to break up with her.” It wasn’t a question.

“I am not tearing her soul out because I am a selfish bastard.” Gajeel looked at the door, his face showing heartbreak before his usual stoic mask fell into place.

_Maybe I was wrong. Maybe he is in love with Lucy._ Freed hoped not. Because eventually, even if Lucy did realize she loved Bickslow she would never hurt Gajeel by dating the Seith Mage, not if it meant Gajeel having to watch the woman he loved be with another man. And then there’d be 3 hurt people.

Freed stood, closed the distance between the two of them, placed a comforting hand on Gajeel’s shoulder. “I do know how you feel.” _Of course, I do. I’m in love with a woman I can never have. Even if Laxus never comes back, I could never have Mirajane._

Gajeel watched as the greenette left the library.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Emperor's New Groove - that is a direct scene quote from the movie. Lucy says the Kuzco's last line before him and Pacha go over the waterfall.


	10. Chapter 10

Lucy was not going to cry. Lisanna was back, everybody was safely returned from Edolas. Natsu, her best friend, was so happy that Lisanna was back that he kept randomly bursting into flames. Not even Gray’s taunts could wreck the Fire Dragon Slayer’s mood. Gajeel had an Exceed of his own.

It surprised everybody when they learned that Happy and Carla were from Edolas. Now Earthland had an entire nation of Exceeds.

Her family was safe. Everybody was safe and happy. So why was she so miserable?

“I’m going to go home.” Lucy whispered to Wendy, giving the little girl a hug. “Tell everybody bye for me?”

Wendy smiled and nodded.

Lucy made her way out of the guild. It was well past midnight, the streets were empty, either too early or too late depending on your perspective. She summoned Plue to keep her company.

“Pun puunnn.” Plue placed his little paws on Lucy’s face.

“I’ll be ok, Plue. I promise.” Lucy’s smile didn’t reach her eyes.

#

Bickslow watched as Lucy left the guild, his gaze flickering over to Gajeel. Why wasn’t the Iron Dragon Slayer walking her back to her apartment? Ever since the two of them started dating, Gajeel would walk Lucy home from the guild. So why not this time?

Bickslow lowered his beer mug, his brows furrowing. His burgundy red gaze flickering between the Iron Dragon Slayer and the closed guild doors.

The Seith Mage heard Freed gasp.

“Wow, he picked awful timing.” Freed murmured.

“Timing for what?” Bickslow studied his friend as the Rune Mage frowned in Gajeel’s direction.

“Gajeel and Lucy broke up.” Evergreen whispered. She sounded surprisingly upset about it.

Bickslow frowned at the Fairy Mage. “Gajeel broke up with Lucy?”

Evergreen nodded. “Right before we got sucked into Edolas.”

Freed and Bickslow stared in shock at their teammate.

“What? I can be observant too. It’s not just for you boys.” She hissed before whacking both with her fan and stalking away.

_Lucy and Gajeel broke up. But why? I thought Gajeel really loved her._ Bickslow finished his beer but he didn’t taste it.

Bickslow didn’t order another drink, he chose to go to the second floor and watch as the rest of the guild partied.

#

Freed watched worriedly as Bickslow sat away from the party. _Why aren’t you going after her?_

“Is Bickslow alright?” Mirajane crept up silently.

Freed jumped. Turning with a smile, he shrugged. “I’m not sure.”

Mirajane smiled softly up at Freed. _He’s so concerned over his friend. It’s adorable._ “I think he’ll be ok. He’s going to see Lucy.” She pointed at the second floor.

Freed’s eyes shifted to where Bickslow was sitting –or well, where the Seith Mage had been sitting. Freed let his eyes shift from the vacant chair to the open window, a smile playing over his lips. “Indeed. He will be fine.”

He and Mirajane shared a smile before she squeezed his hand and went back to hanging out with her sister.

#

She was relieved that the tears waited until she was safely ensconced in her apartment before falling. Lucy was miserable. Gajeel had broken up with her right before the guild got sucked into Edolas as a giant lacrima. During the time in Edolas, she was too busy trying to save anyone to let her feelings bog her down in misery. But now? Now she could cry to her heart’s content.

“Cosplayer.” A soft voice whispered as warm arms pulled her onto a firm lap. “It’ll be alright.”

Lucy closed her eyes, breathing in the woodsy scent that was Bickslow. She felt him press a kiss to her head.

“Was I not good enough?” Lucy rasped, crying silently. Her biggest fear in life was not being good enough. She wasn’t good enough to save her mother. She wasn’t good enough for her father to love her. Maybe she wasn’t good enough for Gajeel.

“What? No! You’re perfect!” Bickslow kissed her temple. “You’re perfect, Lucy.”

“Then why doesn’t he want me?” She pulled back, tear filled chocolate brown eyes meeting concerned burgundy red ones.

“I don’t know.” Bickslow rubbed her lower back. “I just don’t know.”

He gazed into his friend’s eyes and he felt hopeless. She was so heartbroken. _What can I do to help?_

Pressing a kiss to her forehead, he whispered, “It’s his problem, not yours. You’ve done nothing. You’re perfect and any man would be lucky to have you.”

Lucy sobbed harder. “But he had me!”

Bickslow couldn’t find fault in her argument. She was right. Gajeel did have her, then he dumped her.

_She’s crying, what do I do?_ He thought at his totems.

_Hug her?_ Puppu suggested

_He’s already hugging her!_ Poppo screeched.

_Kiss her, then?_ Peppe giggled.

_He’s done that and she’s still crying._ Pappa stated.

_Maybe he didn’t kiss her the right way?_ Pippi said quietly.

Bickslow stilled. _Didn’t kiss her the right way…._ His mind latched onto that thought and refused to let go. But he couldn’t do that. Could he? Sure, he loved Lucy but he didn’t love her in that way. Did he?

“Lucy,” Bickslow tilted her chin up with a finger. “He’s an idiot that didn’t deserve you.” Without second guessing himself, Bickslow kissed her lips quickly.

The kiss was a peck, nothing more than slight pressure on either pair of lips, but both felt as if a jolt of electricity surged through them. The two exchanged surprised looks before Bickslow looked away, a slight blush on his cheeks.

Lucy was so shocked by the sudden kiss that she stopped crying. She lifted a hand to her lips.

“So, uh,” Bickslow scratched the back of his head, feigning indifference, trying to be normal. _Lucy needs normal. She needs understanding not for you to go all needing asshat and kiss her like there’s no tomorrow._ Bickslow sighed. _No matter how much you want to. She needs a friend._ “What reason did he have to break up with you?”

That was a safe topic, right? Bring the conversation back to why Lucy was crying so that Bickslow didn’t have to focus on how soft her lips felt, how right it felt to kiss her, how kissing her felt like home or the most natural thing in the world. Nope, let’s talk about her ex. Who just broke up with her. And the reason why she’s crying. Was crying. Whatever.

Bickslow shoved an annoyed hand through his hair.

“He said we were better friends than a couple.” Lucy sighed, placing her head back on Bickslow’s chest. If she didn’t look at him then she didn’t feel like she had to pull his face down and kiss him for all she was worth.

Bickslow went back to rubbing Lucy’s back comfortingly. “Well, uhh,” he blushed as he thought of his next question, “did you ever do things that were stereo typically couple activities or did you only do things that are what friends do?”

Lucy pulled back to look at Bickslow, he was looking everywhere but at her. She frowned as she thought about the question.

_Did Gajeel and I ever do anything that just screamed couple?_ She gasped as she realized that, no, she and the Iron Dragon Slayer had never done anything even remotely resembling couple activities. He never even kissed her anywhere but on the cheek. Lucy blushed again as she realized something else. Her first kiss was given to Bickslow.

“Ah, no.” Lucy coughed, thankful that Bickslow wasn’t looking at her. Double thankful that Bickslow wasn’t a dragon slayer and couldn’t smell her embarrassment.

“And how do you feel about Gajeel? Do you harbor only friend type feelings or something more?” _I can’t believe I’m having this conversation right now._

_You’re doing fine._ Pappa iterated. The other four totems agreeing with him.

Lucy fiddled with her lower lip, a tingling still reminded her that she and Bickslow kissed. But she thought about the Seith Mage’s question. “No.” She smiled as she realized her true feelings towards the Iron Dragon Slayer. She only felt friendship towards Gajeel.

“So, uh,” Bickslow coughed, licked his suddenly dry lips as he noticed Lucy’s toying with hers. “So, if all you felt was friendship towards him, and all he felt was friendship towards you and thus broke up with you then why are you crying?”

Lucy blinked, brow furrowing. “You’re right, Bigsie.” She placed a kiss on Bickslow’s collar bone. “Thanks.” She smiled up at him.

Bickslow smiled back, his tongue lolling out, waving at her. “No problem, Cosplayer.”

Lucy giggled, poking his tongue. He licked her finger. She laughed and wiped her wet finger on Bickslow’s shirt.

“Wanna watch a movie? Might make you feel better.” Bickslow offered.

“Ok. But only if it involves absolutely no romance at all.” Lucy wasn’t heartbroken but she was still sad.

“You got it, Cosplayer.” Bickslow winked at her before placing her on the couch. “You pick out the movie and I’ll make us some hot chocolate and popcorn.”

“With little marshmallows in my coco?” Lucy asked, snuggling into the couch cushions, pulling out the remote and turning on the television.

“How else are you supposed to have hot coco?” Bickslow rolled his eyes, feigning offense. “Don’t you know me at all?”

Lucy stuck her tongue out at him.

#

Gajeel had noticed when Lucy left the guild. He also noticed when Bickslow left the guild and he could finally let his guilt eat him up. He ignored the look of concern from Wendy as she scented his guilt and the look of confusion from Natsu.

_I did the right thing._ He told himself. And he wanted it to be true. He needed it to be true. He needed to not be in love with Lucy Heartfilia anymore.

“Juvia is concerned about Gajeel.” Juvia spoke softly from behind him. For once she wasn’t all over Gray.

Gajeel rolled his eyes. “I’ll be fine. God, mind your own damn business.” He spat but it lacked true heat.

Juvia rolled her eyes. “You are hopeless.” She sat beside the Iron Dragon Slayer.

Gajeel shot her a baleful look, she shot him one back.

“You do not frighten Juvia, Black Steel.” Juvia huffed as she stood up. “And you never did.”

Gajeel watched as the Water mage walked away.

_What the hell?_

“Whatever.” Gajeel stuffed his hands in his pockets and left to go home. The party had lost all appeal for him anyway.

#

Juvia would never admit it to anybody, but she was in love with the Iron Dragon Slayer. She always had been. But Gajeel was never interested in her. He always complained that she rusted his scraps. Juvia never intended to rust Gajeel’s snacks but she was always so sad that he never noticed her. And it wasn’t until Gray defeated her that she could truly control her water magic.

“The Gajeel on this world just as dense as the one from Edolas?” Lisanna asked Juvia.

Juvia blinked at the youngest Strauss sibling. Lisanna had said that she and Edolas Juvia were friends. That did not mean it would translate into Earthland. But Juvia was lonely and in need of having a friend she could talk to.

“Juvia does not understand what Lisanna means.” Juvia blinked.

Lisanna giggled. “The Juvia from Edolas was in love with the Gajeel there too. But he was an idiot that never noticed.”

Juvia nodded. “Juvia does not know what to do.”

#

Lucy and Bickslow were watching a horror movie. It was ‘The Nun’*.

“Cosplayer,” Bickslow whispered into her hair, he was not about to admit that he was just as freaked out as she was. “Why do you even have this movie?”

Lucy shuddered and burrowed deeper into Bickslow’s lap. “I don’t know. Erza brought it over a couple of weeks ago. We never got around to watching it.”

At the moment, Lucy was instantly regretting her choice of films.

“This is Red’s movie?” Bickslow would never look at Erza the same way again.

“She’s a horror freak.” Lucy shuddered. “This movie shouldn’t be freaking me out so much.” She was never this much of a wuss when it came to horror movies before.

“I’m right there with you, Cosplayer.” Bickslow looked away, trying to find his drink.

“Wanna watch something else?” Lucy asked hopefully.

“Yes!” Bickslow hurriedly reached for the remote, turning off the film.

#

Gajeel leaned on the wall just under Lucy’s apartment, listening through the open window as Lucy and Bickslow turned off the horror movie and started watching ‘The Great British Baking Show*’ instead.

Gajeel smiled bitterly. That show was Lucy’s go-to whenever she was too freaked out to sleep. The Iron Dragon Slayer had tasted the result of many a sleepless night.

He had left the guild to come to her place because… he didn’t know why. He was just used to coming to her place, stopping by before he went home.

He closed his eyes. While he hadn’t expected Bickslow and Lucy to proclaim their undying love for each other, he had been expecting more to be happening than the two of them watching a movie, eating popcorn, and drinking coco.

Gajeel sighed. Sending a silent thank you to Bickslow for taking care of Lucy.

_Maybe the goofball will help her see that she wasn’t actually in love with me._ Gajeel’s lips twisted into a bitter smile. _Now if only I could get somebody like that for me._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Nun - this movie terrified me. It's a part of The Conjuring franchise. 
> 
> The Great British Baking Show -this show is great. Jump on the bandwagon. I watch it on Netflix.


	11. Chapter 11

“Psst, Cosplayer.”

Lucy knocked whatever was tickling her nose away from her face.

“Hey, Cosplayer!”

Lucy smacked her hair away.

“Come on, Cosplayer, wake up.” More hair tickling her nose. “I got a surprise for you.”

Lucy groggily opened her eyes. “Bigsie, what time is it?” She sleepily gazed up into the burgundy eyes of her friend.

“It’s two in the morning.” Bickslow smiled down at her.

Lucy was adorable when she first woke up. Her hair all mused from sleep, her eyes unfocused, her voice deep and raspy. Bickslow loved it.

“That’s too early, Bigsie.” Lucy groaned, pulled the blankets back over her face. “Let me sleep.”

Bickslow chuckled, motioned for his totems to steal Lucy’s blanket. “Up we come!” Bickslow scooped her up, turning around to plop down on her bed with her in his lap.

“Bigsie!” Lucy screeched at the sudden movement.

The totems giggled as Bickslow dipped Lucy quickly to the floor before yanking her back up.

Lucy woke up abruptly, smacking Bickslow when he finally settled her on his lap.

“What was that for?” She blew hair out of her face.

Bickslow’s tongue lolling smile appeared on his face as he tucked her hair behind her ears. “I got a surprise for you. Like I said.” He rolled his eyes, poked her nose. “Don’t you listen?”

Lucy yanked on his ear. “Two in the morning is too early to be listening to anything, Bigsie.”

Bickslow shrugged. “Do you want it?”

“Lucy!” Poppo giggled.

“Surprise!” Peppe giggled, landing on Lucy’s head.

“Gift!” Puppu did a somersault.

“Please love it!” Pappa landed on Bickslow’s head.

“Love Lucy!” Pippi chirped, snuggling to Lucy’s chest.

Lucy smiled, bringing her arms up to cuddle Pippi. “What’s my surprise, Bigsie?” She arched an eyebrow.

“It’s this!” Bickslow presented a small blue box with a red ribbon.

Lucy let go of Pippi to grab the box. It was small compared to Bickslow’s hands –but he had huge hands. She had to hold the box with both hands.

Lifting it to her ear, she shook it, Bickslow laughed at the expression on her face.

_Just like a kid at Christmas._ Bickslow felt an intense warmth in his chest. _She’s so beautiful._

Lucy closed an eye and stuck her tongue out, feigning intense concentration as she slowly pulled the ribbon. She could feel her excitement building as she lifted the lid. She gasped.

Lucy felt tears welling in her eyes. “Bickslow,” she paused, trying to find the correct words.

“Do you like it?” Bickslow smiled, he knew she liked it.

“I love it!” Lucy threw her arms around Bickslow’s neck, pressing excited kisses all over his neck and jaw. “Thank you so much! I’ve always wanted this one!” Lucy carefully extracted the Silver Key from the tissue paper. “Monoceros.” She whispered as she reverently stroked the key.

Bickslow blushed, the warmth in his chest growing.

_Thanks, babies._ He thought to his totems.

The totems cooed in response. It had been their idea to get Lucy a Key, but Bickslow was the one that picked it out. He had scoured tons of Magic Shops and markets from all over Fiore while on his missions, ever since he and Lucy renewed their friendship. He had researched and researched which Key would best match her personality and their friendship. And he had landed on that one, the one he gave her.

“Which one is that?” Bickslow asked anyway. He knew Lucy loved talking about her friends, her Celestial Spirits.

“Monoceros is the Unicorn.” Lucy sighed. “She’s a healer! She can’t heal major things like Wendy, but she can purify water and food, get rid of poisons and toxins. She’s really nifty.”

Bickslow listened as Lucy went on and on about the specifics of her newest friend.

“Bigsie.”

Lucy’s voice pulled Bickslow out of his contented stupor.

“Yeah, Cosplayer?” Bickslow smiled down at the happy blonde in his lap. Her cheeks glowing, her hair catching the moonlight coming through the window; she was radiant.

“I’m really glad you woke me up for this.” Lucy wrapped her hands around Bickslow’s neck in a hug. “It’s the best reason to be woken up.”

“Oh, it’s no problem, Cosplayer. I was able to get it on my last mission, and I knew I just had to give it to you as soon as I came back to town.” He returned her hug.

The hug went on longer than usual, both reluctant to let the other go.

“Wanna see me make a contract?” Lucy asked, her eyes shining with excitement.

“Hells yeah!” Bickslow loosened his grip, Lucy scrambled out of his arms.

Standing in the middle of her bedroom, in a beam of moonlight, she chanted, “I am linked to the world of Celestial Spirits; now, O Spirit, answer my call and pass through the gate! Open Gate of Unicorn: Monoceros!”

Bickslow gasped as there was a sparkling blue light that filled Lucy’s bedroom.

“Master?” Small woman with ebony skin, yellow eyes, with long silver hair, and a gorgeous pink iridescent three-inch horn in the middle of her forehead.

“Oh, no, I really prefer you to call me Lucy.” Lucy waved off the Spirit’s bow.

“Alright, Miss Lucy, as you wish.” The short woman bowed again.

“So, Monoceros, when may I rely on you to help me?” Lucy had a pen and pad of paper in her hand.

“Help you?” Monoceros blinked.

“Oh, yeah, I fight alongside my Spirits.” Lucy blushed. _It’s always so hard to explain to them that I’m a weirdo._

“Are you the princess all the Celestial Spirits talk about?” Monoceros smirked.

“Uh, maybe?” Lucy giggled, throwing an embarrassed glance at Bickslow.

Bickslow arched an eyebrow. _So, all her Spirits call her princess? They realize how special she is too._

Monoceros bowed. “I am free whenever you have need of me, Princess.”

“Yay!” Lucy ran over to the Spirit, giving the smaller woman a quick hug. “I’m so glad you’re with me, Monoceros!”

Bickslow watched as the diminutive Spirit blushed before disappearing in a cloud of purple glitter.

The Seith Mage laughed as Lucy did a little happy dance.

“Bigsie!” Lucy tackled him to her mattress. “Thank you!”

“It’s no problem.” Bickslow smiled up at her. “Anything for my Cosplayer.”

Lucy’s smile rivaled the stars in its brilliance. “You’re wonderful, Bigsie.” She whispered, leaning in to press a kiss to Bickslow’s lips.

This kiss was different from their first kiss a month ago. It lasted longer, their lips molded to each other’s. Lucy broke the kiss, leaning up to gaze deeply into Bickslow’s eyes. There were questions, unspoken, unknown in their depths. It didn’t matter, Lucy leaned back in as Bickslow leaned up, their lips meeting again, her hands slipping around his neck, his hand slipping to cradle her neck, the other to her lower back to hold her in place.

“Lushy!” Natsu drunkenly screamed below Lucy’s open window.

Groaning in frustration, Lucy and Bickslow ended the kiss.

Sitting up, Bickslow placed Lucy on her bed. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Cosplayer.” He smirked as he climbed out the window opposite to the one Natsu was below.

Lucy touched her lips, wonderingly.

“Lushy!” Natsu fell backwards onto Lucy’s bed. “Gimme a place to stay! Lisanna is being mean!”

Lucy turned to look at her best friend, his hair was sticking up at odd angles –more so than usual –and he had a developing black eye.

“You get into a fight with Gray again?” Lucy patted Natsu’s head.

“Yeah, and he threw me into the bar and I spilled red wine all over Lisanna’s dress and now she won’t talk to me.” Natsu huffed, crossing his arms and pouting. “She punched me in the face.”

Lucy giggled. “It’s ok, Natsu. I’ll talk to her for you. Explain that it’s all Gray’s fault. She’ll forgive you.”

“You will?” Natsu sat up, his legs still halfway out of the window.

“Yeah.” Lucy rolled her eyes.

“Oh, Lushy! You’re the best!” Natsu enveloped her in a hug.

Lucy patted Natsu’s back.

“Hey, Luce,” Natsu sniffed her hair, “why do you smell like Bickslow?”

Lucy blushed, “Well, he brought me a new Key. See?” Lucy held up Monoceros’ Key.

“Oh, ok.” Drunk Natsu took her answer at face value, not questioning why Bickslow would be at Lucy’s apartment at two in the morning.

“Let’s get you the rest of the way in, yeah?” Lucy helped the Fire Dragon Slayer arrange himself on the bed.

“Night, Luce.” Natsu breathed into her hair.

“Night, Natsu.” Lucy snuggled against Natsu’s warmth wishing she was snuggling with a tall bluenette with burgundy red eyes, her newest Key clutched tightly in her hand.

#

Bickslow had a shit-eating grin on his face and he knew it. But Lucy kissed him. Twice. They had kissed three times now. And she didn’t complain or hit him.

_That means she likes me right, babies?_ He asked his totems.

_I would believe so._ Pappa answered.

_Awesome._ Bickslow began whistling.

Pappa and his fellow totems shared contented thoughts, twirling in the air as they trailed behind Bickslow on their way home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Monoceros is the Unicorn Constellation and obliviously having a Unicorn is ultra cool! Also, since according to some mythology unicorns can cure poisons and purify water then iw ent with that.


	12. Chapter 12

Despite kissing on two separate occasion, Lucy’s and Bickslow’s relationship hadn’t moved past friendship. It was beginning to get frustrating. Both wondered if the other just didn’t like them in that way. Both wanted to tackle the other and make out, at all hours on any given day they were in the same room together.

Lucy thought that Bickslow only kissed her out of pity the first time. Which depressed her beyond all reason. Her first kiss taken because of pity. The second and third time they had kissed, she figured Bickslow only kissed her back because she kissed him first.

Bickslow thought that Lucy only kissed him the second and third time out of gratitude. He had seen her give others a kiss when she was really thankful. He ignored the blaringly obvious fact that she only kissed others on their cheek or forehead, never on the lips or more than once. He didn’t count first kiss because he still was unsure if it was the right move to do.

Lucy waffled between thinking she liked Bickslow to knowing she liked him to convinced that all she felt was friendship.

Bickslow was a constant storm of emotion and doubt. Somehow convinced that Lucy didn’t like him because she secretly thought he was too old –the five-year age different weighing him down. Most days he was nine thousand percent sure she did not like him because he was too old, a boring adult as he put it when they renewed their friendship. And Lucy was vibrant, full of joy and youth and exuberance, she didn’t need an old guy –here, Bickslow went so far off the deep end.

So, they acted like everything was normal, playing with each other, eating together, pulling pranks. Life was the usual for them ever since the renewal. Only at night, only when each was alone with their thoughts did they act like everything was different.

And their friends? Their friends could only watch those two idiots.

#

Gajeel was too damn close to knocking the Seith Mage upside the head. Seriously, everybody in the guild by now knew that Bickslow and Lucy were in love with other. The only ones that didn’t seem to know were the two in question.

“Seriously?” Gajeel banged his head in frustration on the bar.

Lucy and Bickslow were once again talking, giggling as they waited for whatever they pulled on Freed to come into fruition.

“Juvia thinks we should lock Love Rival and Bickslow in a broom closet and force them to talk to each other.”

Gajeel lifted his head to glare at the Water Mage.

“Are you turning into Mirajane now?” Gajeel studied his comrade.

Juvia slid her gaze from Lucy to Gajeel. “No. Juvia is still Juvia.”

Gajeel narrowed his eyes. “Why aren’t you currently wrapped around ice prick?”

Juvia blinked slowly at Gajeel. The Iron Dragon Slayer got the distinct impression that she was silently calling him an idiot. Gajeel had been getting that impression a lot lately and he couldn’t figure out why.

“Gray is not in the guild. He is currently visiting Lyon.” Juvia turned to smile at Mirajane.

The way Juvia phrased her sentence. The way she emphasized Lyon’s name had Gajeel thinking.

“Yeah?” Gajeel couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“Juvia wonders if Gajeel would be so kind as to go somewhere with her.” Juvia said.

Gajeel choked on the beer he’d been drinking. _Did she just….._ He looked at her, like really looked at her.

“Why?” He couldn’t help but be suspicious. The last time Juvia had asked him to go anywhere she led him to a surprise birthday party that ended well for no-one. Gajeel loathed being surprised.

“If Gajeel is going to ruin it then Juvia retracts her request.” Juvia stood, ready to leave.

Gajeel’s hand on her elbow stopped her. “I’m curious.” He wracked his brain. What day was it? “It’s not my birthday or anything is it?” he asked warily.

Juvia cocked her head to the side, gazed at Gajeel for a for a few seconds before giggling. “No, it is not Gajeel’s birthday. Juvia promises it will not a be a repeat of Juvia’s misguided attempt to throw Gajeel a birthday party.”

Gajeel breathed a sigh of relief. _Thank god!_ “Ok, let’s go.” Gajeel stood, casting one last look at the two hopeless idiots on the other end of the bar. “I’m beginning to develop a headache.”

Juvia nodded, the two of them left the guild, a tiny totem trailing discreetly behind.

#

Lucy watched as Gajeel and Juvia left the guild, turning a sly eye to her companion.

“Bigsie, look.” She purred, jerking her head to the retreating backs of the former Phantom Lord members.

Bickslow looked where the blonde indicated and groaned. “You cheated, I don’t know how but you did.” He glared at her. His totems echoing his statement, chanting ‘cheater’ as they twirled and somersaulted through the air.

“I didn’t cheat.” A shit-eating grin spread across Lucy’s face. She hadn’t cheated. She did, however scheme with Mirajane.

Bickslow narrowed his eyes at the blonde. “You’ve been talking with Mira and that’s why you placed the bet.” It was glaringly obvious now that he thought about it.

Lucy snickered into her strawberry smash whiskey. “It’s not my fault Mira needs an accomplice when it comes with shipping.”

“You guys are crazy.” Bickslow smiled, shaking his head. Leave it to his Cosplayer to only bet on a sure thing. “So, what do you think is happening between the two of them?”

Lucy shrugged. “I don’t know. But I hope it makes him happy.”

Bickslow nodded. “Agreed, he’s been kinda down since he dumped you.” He poked Lucy in the cheek as Pippi landed on her head. “It probably has something to do with a certain blonde Celestial Mage getting over the heartbreak so quickly.”

Lucy stuck her tongue. “And who’s fault is it that I recovered so quickly?”

Bickslow touched his finger to his chin. “I wonder. Was it Gray?”

Lucy shook her head. “Nope.”

“Freed?”

Lucy giggled. “Freed can’t even straighten out his own love life yet alone somebody else’s.”

Bickslow agreed. Freed, the poor guy, was totally in love with Mirajane. Bickslow and Evergreen only knew because Freed got wasted on the last job and told them. Lucy only knew because Bickslow had to share the news with somebody. “True.” Bickslow snapped his fingers. “Elfman!”

Lucy giggled again. “Nope, it was a knight in blue armor.”

Bickslow scratched his head, chewed his lip, thought really hard. Throwing his hands in the air, he said “Have I met this knight? Has he replaced me in your affections? Is it his job to save you now?” He slammed his hand on the bar top. “I will have satisfaction if this knight thinks he can steal my Cosplayer away from me!” Bickslow waggled his tongue at Lucy as she tried not to laugh. “I know! It’s Loke isn’t it? That damn cat has stolen you away from me, hasn’t he?”

Lucy burst into laughter. “You’re Lucky I like you so much.” She took a sip of her drink. _There, an obvious hint if there ever was one._

Bickslow blinked at her. _Did she just…_ He couldn’t think. She just said she liked him. Like liked him liked him? He turned burgundy red eyes to Mirajane. The barmaid’s smile somehow did not inspire confidence.

Swallowing, Bickslow laughed nervously.

#

Freed wanted to follow Gajeel’s lead and bang his head into the nearest hard surface. At the moment, that was the second-floor railing.

_Bickslow is literally so fucking dense sometimes!_ Freed’s mind wailed.

Freed and Evergreen exchanged glances.

“I didn’t think he was this stupid.” Evergreen sighed, fanning herself. She just wanted one of her best friends to find happiness. Goodness knows, somebody out of the Raijinshu should. Evergreen was too chicken-shit to tell Elfman she had always admired him. And Freed.

Evergreen felt bad for Freed. The poor Rune Mage was stuck being in love with a woman that was in love with Laxus.

“We might have to rethink the assessment of our team’s strengths.” Freed groaned from his position of his face trying to meld with the wooden banister.

#

Mirajane sighed. _At least Juvia is going for it._

She wished she could break her cool and slam her head into the bar top out of frustration just like Gajeel. And Natsu. And Gray.

Mirajane wished that she could just create one potion or spell that would force people to just be honest with each other. It would help. It really would. Cana could be honest with Max that she was in love with him. Laki and Macao could be honest with Romeo. Gray would admit he was in love with Lyon.

And the troublemakers. Lucy, Bickslow, Natsu, Lisanna. Those four. Mirajane wanted to pull out Sitri and just get the respective couples to talk to each other.

Since everybody returned from Edolas, Mirajane had been watching with increasing interest BixLu and NaLi.

NaLi was the one she had the most knowledge on. Living with her younger sister did come with certain perks. Mirajane saw first hand how much Lisanna was in love with the Fire Dragon Slayer. And being friends with Lucy informed Mirajane of the other side of the equation. Lucy being Natsu’s best friend came with many hours of the knowledge that the Fire Dragon Slayer was just as in love with Lisanna. If the two would ever admit their feelings for each other. Natsu was oblivious at the best of times and Lisanna was too shy to say anything outright. Mirajane wanted to pull her hair out.

But Bickslow and Lucy. BixLu made Mirajane want to cry. Actually cry. Great big tears of frustration, grief, anger all while transforming into Sitri and beating the two mages until they realized they were in love with each other.

Mirajane felt a tick form in her forehead as she listened to Lucy tell Bickslow point blank that she liked him and Bickslow just laugh nervously. Mirajane entered the kitchen, if she stayed behind the bar, she would have punched Bickslow in the face.

Mirajane walked to the huge industrial freezer the guild had, opened it, walked in, made sure not to lock herself in –despite there being a latch from on the inside just in case because drunk Gray liked to sleep in the freezer sometimes –and let out a frustrated scream.

Taking a deep breath, she left the freezer, fixing Freed the sandwich he ordered.

Another one of her many frustrations. Freed Justine.

“I give up.” Mirajane mumbled to herself as she left the kitchen, only to see Bickslow and Lucy in a compromising position as the blonde Celestial Mage straddled the Seith Mage, tickling him.

Mirajane took a deep breath and ignored it.

_Those two are going to be the death of me, I swear._ Pasting her usual smile on her face, Mirajane went to deliver Freed his sandwich.

#

_Why in the fuck are we in a field in the middle of the forest?_ Gajeel looked around, took a whiff, over the flowers he could only pick up Juvia’s scent and the occasional woodland creature.

“Gajeel, please focus on what Juvia is about to tell Gajeel.” Juvia’s voice broke Gajeel out of his thoughts.

Snapping his eyes open, Gajeel focused entirely on the Water Mage. He grunted.

Juvia narrowed her gorgeous blue eyes at him.

_Wait, what? Since when do I think her eyes are gorgeous?_ Gajeel narrowed his gaze back. Trying to think of since he thought Juvia had pretty –no, gorgeous –eyes.

“Juvia thinks that Gajeel has been focusing too much on making sure Love Rival and Bickslow get together and forgetting that it is sometimes good to be selfish.” Juvia crossed her arms. “Juvia also means to inform Gajeel that he is ignoring somebody that likes Gajeel. Juvia would even go so far as to say he is ignoring somebody that loves him.”

Gajeel reacted as if punched. “What?” He hissed.

Juvia slowly walked to stand right in front of Gajeel.

“Why does Gajeel keep asking Juvia to repeat herself when Gajeel hears what Juvia says perfectly well?” Juvia smiled slightly.

Gajeel blinked down at her. _When did she get so close? Why is she smiling at me?_

“Just double checking.” _Why is she looking up at me like that?_ Gajeel coughed, scratched the back of his head.

“Would Gajeel classify Juvia as his best friend?” Juvia looked up at the Iron Dragon Slayer from lowered lashes.

_Uh._ He swallowed, the Water Mage was making Gajeel decidedly nervous. “I guess so, yeah.”

“Gajeel only guesses?” Juvia whispered. “Gajeel does not know?”

Gajeel shook his head, captivated by the intense look in Juvia’s eyes. _What is going on right now?_

“And here Juvia thought Gajeel was intelligent.” She pulled back, pouted.

“I am too intelligent!” Gajeel shouted.

“Juvia disagrees.” Juvia studied her nails. “If Gajeel does not know who his best friend is then clearly Gajeel is not as intelligent as Juvia originally thought.”

Gajeel fisted his hands. “No, Gajeel, I mean, I am as intelligent as you thought!”

Juvia tittered. Never in his life had Gajeel ever thought he’d describe a laugh as tittered but that was exactly the noise that damn, infuriating woman made.

“Does Gajeel want to know why Juvia brought him here?” Juvia slid her hand up Gajeel’s chest.

Blinking, anger gave way to confusion to mesmerized to aroused.

“Yeah.” He breathed out, focused entirely on her cool hand, how it felt against his heated skin, rather like a cool stream.

“Juvia promises to if Gajeel closes his eyes.” Juvia chickened out. She wanted to tell him, but she couldn’t. Not while he was looking at her with such intensity.

Gajeel closed his eyes quickly, it was probably the fastest he had ever done anything in his entire life, truth be told.

Juvia watched in amazement as Gajeel not only closed his eyes but did it without question. _Maybe he is as excited as I am?_ She hoped so. Biting her lip and shoring up her courage – _You can do this, Juvia! Lucy and Mirajane believe in you!_ –she stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his.

Gajeel waited for what felt like an eternity to be told why Juvia had brought his to the field. Just when he was about to open his eyes, he felt it, a cool press on his lips, the stream again, only more firm, more substantial. It felt wonderful.

Moaning, Gajeel brought his arms up to wrap around the wonderful feeling.

Juvia froze as she felt his arms wrap around her, pull her closer, before she melted into the kiss.

Neither the Water Mage nor the Iron Dragon Slayer noticed the floating totem just in the trees, too wrapped up in each other.

#

“Well, I’ll be damned, Cosplayer. You called it.” Bickslow relayed everything Puppu witnessed in the field. Admitting defeat, he high-fived Lucy.

Lucy giggled. “Well.” She shrugged with one shoulder.

Bickslow hugged her, kissing her forehead. “Remind me to never bet against you when it comes to love lives again.”

Lucy leaned into Bickslow. “I promise no such thing. I enjoy easy credits.”

Bickslow only shook his head. “So, Sherlock* marathon at your house?”

“I thought that was tomorrow.” Lucy frowned, thinking.

“Nah, it was today. Tomorrow is that weird movie thing Freed strong-armed us into attending.” Bickslow rolled his eyes.

Lucy giggled. “Ah, yes.” She poked Bickslow’s cheek. “And he only strong-armed you. I’m going willingly.”

Groaning, Bickslow slid off the barstool, stretching. “Ugh, why would you **_willingly_** agree to go to see ‘Nosferatu*’?”

“Because he promised me you were going. Duh.” Lucy stretched as well. “I’m not really a Dracula mythos fan even though I do know a lot about it.” Waving goodbye to Mirajane, Lucy started walking towards the exit.

Bickslow fell into step beside her, his totems twirling about both their heads. “Huh. I would’ve pegged you for a vamp nerd.”

“Nah. I’m more into ghosts, y’know? I got a theme going.” Lucy winked at him, sticking her tongue out in an approximation of Bickslow’s signature smile.

Bickslow scratched his chin, then realization hit, and he collapsed into Elfman laughing. “Your theme is ghosts!” He screeched, tears in his eyes. “Cosplayer, you’re telling me you picked your horror creatures because ghosts are more like your Spirits?”

“Hey, like I said. I got a theme going.” Lucy winked at Elfman, giving the Beast Soul Take-Over Mage a smile.

Bickslow righted himself, holding his side. “Cosplayer, your brain is a thing of absolute beauty.” He wrapped his hands around Lucy’s head, pulling it so he could kiss her in the center of her forehead. “I love it!”

Chuckling, the two of them left the guild arm in arm.

The rest of the guild sighed. Would those two just stop being idiots already?

#

It was during the episode ‘The Hounds of the Baskerville*’ that Bickslow’s brain realized something else. It remembered a piece of their conversation as they left the guild.

**_“Ugh, why would you willingly agree to go to see ‘Nosferatu’?” Bickslow couldn’t keep the disgust out of his voice. He hated vampires. More into ghosts. He had a theme going._ **

**_“Because he promised me you were going. Duh.” Lucy shrugged._ **

Bickslow looked down at the blonde currently snuggled up to him. _She said she was only going because Freed promised her that **I**_ was _going. That I was going to be there._

Bickslow thought furiously, did Freed ask Lucy to join the Raijinshu before or after Freed had asked Bickslow and Evergreen? It had to have been after because the Rune Mage had asked his teammates before breakfast and Lucy had arrived after lunch.

Feeling a faint blush spread across his face and an intense warm feeling in his chest, Bickslow pulled Lucy more snuggly against him, a shit-eating grin spreading across his face.

Lucy liked him. Now he just had to ask her on an official date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nosferatu - a German black and white silent film based of Bram Stoker's "Dracula". 1922 expressionist horror film. 
> 
> Sherlock -the television show Sherlock starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Amanda Abbington, Rupert Graves, Una Stubbs, Louise Brealey, & Mark Gatniss. Created by Mark Gatniss and Steven Moffat.
> 
> The Hounds of the Baskerville - episode 2 of series (season) 2 of the tv show Sherlock mentioned above. (Can watch all 4 seasons via Netflix in the USA)


	13. Chapter 13

Lucy wanted to retract her earlier thought about Happy being a pet. Happy wasn’t the pet. The blue Exceed was a complete asshole, teasing her about her weight all the time, but he wasn’t the pet in her life. No, the pet in her life was currently snoring at the foot of her bed, curled up like a large dog that thought it was a lap dog. Natsu was the worst possible pet in the entirety of Earthland.

Lucy’s legs were asleep and as much as she tried to wiggle her legs, she couldn’t dislodge the Fire Dragon Slayer.

“Natsu!” Lucy groaned. “My legs are asleep and you’re heavy!” She punched Natsu’s shoulder to wake him.

The only response she got was for him to snore louder.

“Damn it.” Lucy collapsed back on her mattress. _Why did drunk Natsu always come to my house?_

#

Freed should’ve expected the punch; Bickslow lost all sense when it came to Lucy. Really, Freed should have seen it coming.

“What do you mean you knew who she was this entire time?” Bickslow hissed into Freed’s face, the Seith Mage’s hands clenched around Freed’s collar.

The guild was relatively quiet, it was early morning, the only ones –other than Freed and Bickslow—in the guild hall were the Strauss Siblings, Evergreen, and Wendy.

Freed felt his legs dangling in the air and debated on whether kicking Bickslow was a viable option.

_Fuck it, go for it._ Freed’s leg shot out, landing a hard kick to Bickslow’s knee.

It would be a testament to how angry Bickslow was in the fact that the kick did nothing.

“Bickslow,” the Rune Mage gasped, “I need air to explain.”

Bickslow grunted and dropped the Rune Knight.

Rubbing his throat, the greenette tried to think of the best way to explain.

“You knew. You knew, and you didn’t tell me.” Betrayed was the only way Bickslow could feel.

Freed straightened his clothes, glancing towards the first floor of the guild, so far none of the building’s other occupants had noticed the possible fight between the two friends. So far. The Rune Mage really didn’t want to know what would happen if they did learn.

“I thought it was for the best. She’s an heiress, the rules are different for people of high society.” Freed smoothed his hair down.

Bickslow narrowed his eyes, ripped his hood off.

_Oh, fuck. This isn’t good._ Freed’s eyes widened slightly. It was never a good sign when Bickslow took his hood off. The Seith Mage had been walking around the guild without his visor but only because Lucy complain that she couldn’t see the bluenette’s burgundy eyes. But Bickslow still wore his hood, now though, it was off and that’s when Freed knew he better explain himself quickly.

Bickslow narrowed his eyes, they began to glow green, a sure sign his magic was coming into play. “Please, do explain that last remark if you would be so kind, Mr. Justine.”

Freed swallowed, Bickslow only became polite when he was livid. Swallowing, the Rune Mage opened his mouth to explain. “Heiresses have a much harder and less free life than heirs. Heirs are in fact encouraged to go out and sow their wild oats. Heiresses are kept on a tight leash. They are expected to be engaged by fourteen and married at sixteen. You knowing who she was wouldn’t have done anything but hurt you because she couldn’t have been your friend. In fact, she would’ve been forced to publicly shame you and any friendship you offered.”

“Because I was a mage?”

“No, because you were common.” Freed knew perhaps too much about how the rich half of Fiore were raised and how each member was expected to behave. He was lucky that he was a fourth son and so far away from the direct line of succession he got to pick his preferred life path. “I learned who she was four years ago. It was a week after I saw the picture you keep in your shirt pocket. I was researching something for a client and came across a picture of Lucy and her father. It was an old article about how the Heartfilia Kozern was doing after the death of the mother. At the time I learned you were eighteen and she was thirteen. Knowing what I know of high society she was most likely already in marriage talks. She’d be unofficially engaged and married before you could even formulate a proper escape plan.”

“I could have rescued her.” Bickslow’s eyes began to glow brighter.

Freed paused at his friend’s admission. _Ah. Yes. Bickslow picked the knight get up for a reason. He always viewed himself as a knight in shining armor. He would have felt he would’ve needed to save Lucy._

“What makes you think she would have let you save her?” Freed immediately regretted asking that question as Bickslow’s jaw tightened.

“Because we talked at length about what her father did and what her life was like. After Fantasia.” _I will not punch Freed._ The Seith Mage ran his hands over his face. “You didn’t know what her life was like after her mother died, man.”

Freed inclined his head, conceding the point. “True, I don’t. But knowing who she was wouldn’t have mattered or helped anything.”

The second punch to the face Freed was not expected. Bickslow grabbed Freed’s collar with one hand and landed a punch to the Rune Mage’s face. Freed knew his nose was broken.

Dropping the Rune Mage, Bickslow jumped off the second-floor balcony and left the guild. Gathering himself, Freed stood, straightened his clothing as best he could and went to go find Wendy.

“Wendy,” Freed held a handkerchief up to his nose to stem the flow of blood, “do you think you could heal my nose?”

Wendy blushed, she knew exactly why Freed had a broken nose. “Of course, Freed.” She smiled tentatively as the Rune Mage sat next to her at the bar.

“Freed, why is your nose broken?” Lisanna asked.

“Bickslow broke it.” Freed felt an incredible warmth spread through his nose.

“Why?” Lisanna couldn’t think of any reason the two men would get into a fight.

“You finally told him you knew who Lucy was the entire time didn’t you?” Evergreen asked, sounding bored, never looking up from her book.

The other five mages looked at the third member of the Raijinshu in shock.

“What?” Evergreen shrugged. “Lucy is the only time Bickslow punched Freed. Is wasn’t that hard to reason out.” She took a sip of her coffee.

“Evergreen,” Freed started slowly, his nose finally healed, “when did you find out?” He patted the youngest Dragon Slayer on the head.

Freed was asking when Evergreen discovered that the other first fight he and Bickslow had fought was over Lucy.

Evergreen put her book down, took off her glasses and stared at Freed as she cleaned off her lenses. “Loose lips sink ships, Freed, and your lips are exceedingly loose after a night of drinking.” She leaned closer to her friend. “And you better be glad that Bickslow was already asleep when you spilled the beans after that mission or this fight would’ve happened in the middle of Waas Forest.”

Freed flinched.

#

Bickslow found himself wandering the streets of Magnolia, too angry to verbally hash it out with Freed, too pent up to go see Lucy. The Seith Mage didn’t exactly trust himself at the moment. He would never hurt Lucy, not on purpose but he also knew that he couldn’t pile more shit on her already.

“Go see Lucy, Bickslow.” Pappa intoned.

“She doesn’t want to deal with my angry ass this early in the morning.” Bickslow looked at his watch. It was eight thirty in the morning.

“I’m sure she’d rather deal with you than drunk Natsu.” Puppu offered.

“How do you know?” Bickslow side-eyed his totems. He loved his babies, but they were some of the nosiest people he had ever met.

“Because Natsu entered a drinking contest with Cana and Gajeel last night. And drunk Natsu always crashes at Lucy’s.” Poppo chimed in.

“Huh.” Bickslow ran a hand through his hair, remembering he wasn’t wearing his hood or helmet.

“Go to her, boy.” Pappa ordered. “She’ll help.”

Bickslow rolled his eyes and couldn’t help the slight smile that turned the corners of his lips up, his totems were so loving.

“Fine, take me to Lucy, babies.” Bickslow stepped up on the sudden platform his totems formed.

#

Lucy couldn’t feel her hips. _Natsu weighs a lot more than I thought. And Happy always says I’m the fat one._ Lucy rolled her eyes.

In the past hour since waking up, she had tried several different ways to wake the sleeping Fire Dragon Slayer to no avail. She had also realized that it was time to repaint her ceiling, the paint was faded and yellowed. She then debated with herself what color she wanted to paint it and if she wanted to repaint her entire apartment.

“Cosplayer!” Bickslow’s voice pulled Lucy out of her thoughts.

Looking over at the other window in her bedroom she saw the Seith Mage floating just outside. “Oh, hey, Bigsie.”

Bickslow climbed through the window, his totems flying to bounce on Natsu.

“He is passed the fuck out.” Bickslow poked Natsu’s cheek.

“Tell me about it.” Lucy smiled up at her friend.

Bickslow sat down on the bed, next to her head. “He got into a drinking competition with Cana and Gajeel last night.” He explained, his brows furrowed, trying to figure out a way to get Natsu up without being set on fire.

It was a guild wide truth that Natsu, if woken up by anything that wasn’t Happy or Erza had a habit of setting the offender on fire.

“Have you tried to contact Happy?” Bickslow glanced at Lucy.

“That damn cat came by earlier, saw my predicament then burst into laughter, giggling about how he was going to tell Lisanna about it.” She rolled her eyes. “I woke to my legs being asleep and now my hips are as well.”

Bickslow chuckled. “Let’s see if we can help you out.” The Seith Mage tried to pull Lucy out by placing his hands in her armpits. She didn’t budge. “Hmm.” Bickslow tapped his chin in thought, coming up with a plan, he winked down at Lucy. “You trust me, Cosplayer?”

“With my life, Bigsie.” Lucy nodded once, automatically fine with whatever Bickslow was going to do.

Bickslow felt a blush heat his cheeks at her quick answer. He motioned for his totems to move away from the sleeping Fire Dragon Slayer. “Hey Natsu,” Bickslow leaned down to whisper into Natsu’s ear, “Gray told me that he could beat your ass because he learned a new spell.”

“WHAT?! ICE PRICK COULD NEVER DEFEAT ME!” Natsu shouted, shooting into a sitting position before rolling out of Lucy’s open window.

Bickslow and Lucy burst into laughter.

“I can’t believe I didn’t think of that.” Lucy shook her head.

“It’s ok, Cosplayer. I’ve known him longer than you. I know exactly how deep their rivalry runs.” Bickslow flashed his tongue lolling smile.

Lucy sat up, well, she tried to sit up. “I forgot the entire lower half of my body is numb.” She flopped back down on her mattress.

Bickslow arched an eyebrow. “Want me to help?”

“Please!” Lucy pleaded.

“Anything for my Cosplayer.” Bickslow sat on the edge of Lucy’s bed, carefully pulled back the blanket, put her legs in his lap. Massaging her legs, he looked at her face, his anger at Freed all but forgotten.

After a few minutes, Bickslow moved one of her legs to behind his back, feeling like he had brought enough feeling back into it, he began massaging the other leg. Both ignored his position.

“Bigsie, what’s wrong?” Lucy reached out a hand to touch Bickslow’s arm.

“How do you always know?” Bickslow smiled down at her.

“Because I love you. And we’re friends. It’s my job to know when something is wrong with you. Duh.” Lucy rolled her eyes, plucking his sleeve. “Seriously though, what’s wrong. Tell me. You’re going to be stuck here a while until I can get feeling back into my legs.”

Bickslow smirked. “I’m gonna be trapped between your gorgeous legs?” He snorted. “Yeah, like that’s a real punishment.”

Lucy smacked his arm, rolling her eyes at her friend. “Spill. Or I’ll ask Pippi.”

Bickslow looked over to see Pippi doing the totem’s version of a nod, bouncing up and down in the air. “Traitor.” He hissed without rancor at his tiny totem.

Pippi shrugged.

“So, I might have gotten into a fight with Freed.” Bickslow focused his gaze at his hands as they worked to bring feeling back to Lucy’s legs.

Lucy pursed her lips, propped herself up on her elbows. “You fought Freed.”

“Yeah.” His shoulders slumped. He shouldn’t have reacted that way. “He kept a secret from me and I didn’t take the revelation well.”

“What secret did he keep from you?” As far as she knew, the Raijinshu didn’t keep secrets from each other.

Bickslow’s hands stilled, he turned his face to look at her. He had to know what her reaction was she he told her. “He knew who you were the past four years. The minute he saw you at the bar he knew who you were.”

Lucy frowned, chewed her bottom lip. “So, we could have renewed our friendship sooner after I joined the guild if he had just come clean?”

“Not only that but I could’ve found you and possibly rescued you from your father.” Bickslow looked away then. He couldn’t see the possible rejection.

Lucy gasped. _Did he just…_ She felt a massive wave of love flow through her.

“Bickslow, you would have come and gotten me?” She asked, to clarify.

Bickslow nodded, biting his bottom lip, he met her gaze. “Of course, a knight has to rescue his lady.”

Lucy smiled then, brightly before pulling Bickslow face to hers for a passionate kiss. Her tongue dove into his mouth, running along his as her hands fisted in his hair. It took a full second for the shock to wear off. This kiss was **_nothing_** like their other three kisses. This kiss was all passion and want. Bickslow’s hands finally took action, sliding into Lucy’s hair. He pulled her head back, deepened the kiss, dominating the kiss, his tongue licking along her bottom lip before diving into her mouth.

Lucy moaned as the kiss changed, pressing herself closer to him, ignoring the tingling in her awaking legs. Bickslow’s tongue went back into his own mouth, he lightly sucked on Lucy’s tongue as the appendage chased his tongue. They both moaned.

Never breaking the kiss, Lucy laid back down as Bickslow gently pushed her back onto her mattress, repositioning himself to where he was laying between her legs, her core cradling his aching member.

_This moment is perfect._

Bickslow broke the kiss to kiss his way to her neck, she moved her head to the side to allow him better access, he licked and sucked where her neck met her shoulder. His hands moving down her body to cup a breast and thumb her nipples. Lucy bucked her hips after the first pass of Bickslow’s thumbs rubbing circles over her sensitive pebbles. Bickslow moaned against her neck, biting down on the skin of her neck as Lucy’s hips rolled against him. He slid a hand down to cup her ass, holding her hips more firmly against him, their hips rolling, grinding against each other, creating the best friction.

Lucy bit on the tip of Bickslow’s ear before nibbling the lobe. This caused Bickslow to kiss his way back to her lips. Plunging his tongue into her mouth, he rolled his hips more forcibly. Lucy brought her knees up, opened her legs wider, changed the angle. They moaned in unison at the change.

Their haze of lust was broken at the sound of a knock on the door.

“Lucy,” Freed sounded worried. “I need to ask you for advice.”

Lucy and Bickslow groaned, the moment ruined.

“I really will kill him this time.” Bickslow panted, resting his forehead against Lucy’s.

“You can’t kill him.” Lucy said.

Bickslow looked at her.

“Because I’m going to kill him.” Lucy assured the Seith Mage.

Bickslow laughed, rolling off her and to the side.

“I think I’ll get Virgo to punish him first though.” Lucy grumbled, walking over to her dresser and pulling out some clothes.

“Punishment, Princess?” Virgo popped out of nowhere, bowing.

“Let Freed in, please. Then you can punish him for interrupting me.” Lucy stomped into her bathroom.

Virgo slid her gaze to Bickslow. The Maid Spirit knew exactly what the Rune Mage had interrupted. “Would you like the Rune Mage to be aware of your presence?”

Bickslow had covered his erection with Lucy’s pillow, it wasn’t that he was embarrassed the pink-haired Maid Spirit knew what he and Lucy were doing, it was that he didn’t want anybody but Lucy to know how much she affected him. “Nah. I’d like to hear what he and Lucy talk about.”

Virgo nodded and carefully picked up all five of Bickslow’s totems and carried them to the bed. With that, Virgo left the room to answer the door.

#

Lucy was angry.

_Bickslow must have been here and told her_. Freed sighed. _How angry is she? Virgo is out. So, Lucy must be fairly livid._

Lucy studied Freed over the rim of her teacup.

“Would you like to start the conversation, or should I?” Lucy asked, placing her teacup on its saucer.

Freed froze, taking in his surroundings. Formal tea set, tea pot, sugar cubes, tongs for the sugar cubes, milk, lemon, honey, tea cups with matching saucers, the tea pot and cups were part of a set, Lucy wearing a tea dress, Virgo actually acting as a maid.

_Oh, fuck._ Freed closed his eyes, knowing he was in for it.

“I kept a secret from Bickslow that I now realize might have been a mistake.” Freed carefully placed his teacup on the table.

“Might have been a mistake.” Lucy arched an eyebrow.

“It was a mistake. A grave mistake.” Freed ran his hands through his hair. “How do I apologize?”

#

Lucy sighed as she opened the door to her apartment. After repairing Bickslow’s and Freed’s friendship, then going to watch a movie with the entire Raijinshu she was exhausted. She just wanted to take a bath and go to bed.

Turning on her bathroom light she shrieked when she saw Cana soaking in her tub.

“What the hell, Cana?” Lucy tried to calm her racing heart.

“I think I’m going to quit the guild.” Cana sighed, resting her head on the side of the tub.

Lucy noticed how depressed the Card Mage sounded.


	14. Chapter 14

_Today is the day we head to Tenrou._

Lucy was ecstatic. She’d get to help her friend Cana achieve S-Class. The Celestial Mage couldn’t wait. Lucy had never been to Tenrou, the island sacred to the Fairy Tail guild. And she knew, she just knew that she could help Cana become a S-Class Mage. Lucy just knew it.

Now if only she could move.

Natsu snorted, mumbled something in his sleep before settling back down. Lucy patted his hip, the only part of him she could reach. The Celestial Mage tried to move, only for Lisanna to clutch at her tighter, nuzzling Lucy’s neck. Lucy patted Lisanna’s hip as well.

“Why does this keep happening to me?” Lucy asked herself.

“Because you’re so comfy, Lushy.” Happy nuzzled her hair sleepily before falling back asleep.

_I give up._

At least she decided that she was going to repaint her apartment in blues, yellows, and silvers to go with a Celestial theme. Now if only she could extract herself from the Lucy sandwich she was a part of so she could pack.

Lucy tried to dislodge the Fire Dragon Slayer, the blue Exceed, and the Animal-Soul Take-Over Mage only for all three to snuggle closer.

“At least I can still breathe.” Sighing, Lucy gave up and prayed that somebody would be by to rescue her soon. Or all four of them would miss the boat.

#

It was too hot to do anything. Just too hot. And they were going to a tropical island. Why? Just why?

“I think I’m melting.” Lucy eyed Gray, the Ice-Make Mage looking really nifty at the moment.

“No!” Gray emphatically shook his head. “Not again. You are not using me as your own personally AC unit!” He walked away.

“But Gray! Don’t be so mean!” Lucy jumped on his back. “Come on! Help your Lil’sis out! Pwease big brover!”

“Get off me, vile woman!” Gray hoisted Lucy more firmly on his back, carrying her piggy-back style, as he began running about the ship’s deck screaming for her to get off.

“Those two are really weird.” Gajeel whispered.

“You have no idea.” Bickslow passed the Iron Dragon Slayer a water bottle.

Gajeel side-eyed the Seith Mage. “You gonna make me ask?”

Bickslow chuckled. “Nah, rusty, we ain’t dating. Yet.”

Gajeel rolled his eyes. “Yet? Yet? You two are driving everybody insane with the whole ‘when will they get their heads out of their asses’ thing. Seriously, just go for it.”

Bickslow choked on his water. _Wait, everybody knows?_

His question must’ve been on his face because Gajeel laughed.

“Yeah, everybody knows, knight boy.” Chuckling to himself, the Iron Dragon Slayer went to go stand by his girlfriend.

#

Lucy bounced over to Gajeel, prize in hand. Gray had finally relented and made her two ice bracelets, two ice anklets, and an ice headband to help keep her cool.

“It is amazing how you can get people to do what you want, Bunny. Disturbing even.” Gajeel eyed the ice creations, wondering if he could talk Juvia into helping him out.

Lucy shrugged, sticking her tongue out at the Iron Dragon Slayer. “He doesn’t want his little sister to suffer. He’s adorable.”

Gajeel snorted. He personally didn’t see how Gray was adorable but Gajeel didn’t see anything that wasn’t a fuzzy animal as adorable.

“How are you going to cope with possibly fighting your girlfriend?” Lucy jerked her chin to where Juvia was talking with her partner, Lisanna.

“Same way you deal with fighting your boyfriend, I guess.” Gajeel laughed as Lucy blushed.

“He’s not my boyfriend.” Lucy mumbled, scratching her chin.

“He might as well be.” Gajeel shoved her shoulder playfully, glad that they were such great friends again. And he had to admit, they were rubbish as boyfriend and girlfriend. It had taken becoming Juvia’s boyfriend for Gajeel to see how different his feelings towards the Water Mage and the Celestial Mage were. He loved Lucy like a sister. “I mean, come on. I know you two have at least made out with each other. What’s stopping you?”

Lucy blushed crimson, the tone rivaling Erza’s hair. Stuttering, she waved her hand back and forth out of embarrassment. “You damn Dragon Slayer.” Lucy shakes her head, fanning herself.

Gajeel throws an arm around her neck, kissed her temple. “It’s ok. Natsu and Wendy know as well. Also, why do you smell like both Natsu and the youngest Strauss?” Gajeel leaned back to look at her, face screwed up in mock disgust.

Lucy sighed. “Because they decided to use me as a teddy bear last night. I woke up to both Natsu and Lisanna cuddling me.”

Gajeel laughed.

“Yeah, Lisanna on my right, Natsu on my left, Happy on my head.” Lucy shook her head, rolling her eyes at the absurdity of it. “Really, it’s bad enough I wake up to both Gray and Erza turning me into a sandwich, now I gotta add Natsu and Lisanna? It’s too much, I’m telling ya.”

Gajeel patted the blonde on the head. “You have got to find a way for people to stop breaking into your place.”

“Tell me about it.” Lucy rolled her eyes, not bothering to dislodge Gajeel’s hand from her head. “I better not wake up to you and Juvia sandwiching me one day.”

The Iron Dragon Slayer threw his head back and laughed. “Don’t worry. That won’t ever happen.”

Chuckling, Gajeel went to go stand by his partner, Levy.

#

“Are you going to ask her out before or after the trials?” Evergreen fanned herself, trying to ignore the way Elfman looked.

Bickslow looked down at one of his best friends. “I don’t know.” And he didn’t. Asking her out after the trials seemed like a dick move, what if Freed beat Cana? Then Bickslow could look like a condescending asshole. But asking her out before the trials didn’t make much sense to him either.

“Just ask her already.” Evergreen rolled her eyes at her teammate’s idiocy. _Really, between Bickslow and Freed. We are all going to die alone._ She continued ignoring Elfman.

_I should ask her. I can’t be like Freed and Ever._ Steeling his nerve, Bickslow approached Lucy.

“Hey, Cosplayer. I heard you woke up being spooned by Natsu and Lisanna.” Bickslow’s tongue lolling smile prominent at the innuendo.

“Ugh, yes!” Lucy groaned comically. “Honestly. It’s bad enough drunk Natsu sleeps with me but now I gotta add drunk Lisanna? I’m over it already.”

The two friends shared a laugh.

“I got a question.” Bickslow bit his bottom lip.

“Yeah?” Lucy mirrored his actions.

_Please say yes._ Bickslow’s uncertain burgundy gaze met chocolate.

_Please ask me what I think you’re going to ask me._ Lucy’s chocolate gaze willed Bickslow to ask the correct question.

“When the trials are over, and we get back to Magnolia, want to, maybe, go on a date with me?” Bickslow glanced away, glanced back.

“Yes. I would love to go on a date with you.” Lucy’s smile rivaled the sun and the blush spreading across both their cheeks rivaled the heat.

Three yells of ‘Finally’, ‘It’s about damn time’, and ‘I’m so happy for you’ from the three Dragon Slayers only made Bickslow and Lucy blush harder.


	15. Chapter 15

Levy often wondered what it was like to have somebody like you. Jet and Droy played the lovers but they were just trying to hide the fact that they’d been dating since they were fourteen and Levy was the perfect cover.

The Solid Script Mage was happy for her friends. Natsu and Lisanna. Gajeel and Juvia. And now, possibly, Lucy and Bickslow.

But what about her? What about Levy? Would she ever find somebody?

Levy very much doubted that anybody could like such a miniscule book worm that she was. Her wild blue locks and her bubbly personality aside. She felt she was too small, in all aspects of her body. And when combined with her love of books, studying, and writing, no, nobody would ever like Levy.

Which she had learned to live with. Mostly.

Sighing, Levy went back to ignoring Gajeel’s and Juvia’s halfhearted argument about Gajeel being a moron.

#

Freed chuckled at his friend’s embarrassment. _That’s what you get for taking so long to ask her out, dumbass._

“They’re a cute couple, don’t you think?” Mirajane’s soft voice pulled Freed’s gaze from the oddly cute couple to the white-haired barmaid.

“Indeed.” He agreed. He would agree with Mirajane for almost everything, but he definitely agreed with her about the subject of BixLu -Mirajane had been calling the couple that for a while now and it had just stuck, even to Freed.

“And NaLi are also a go.” Mirajane’s smile wasn’t all there. Finally, her ships were coming to fruition. It was an exciting moment for her.

Freed smiled worriedly. _I wonder who she paired me with._ The Rune Mage suppressed a shudder of apprehension. _Please tell me she didn’t pair me with Cana. Levy I can deal with but **not** Cana._ Freed knew through Laxus that Cana was Gildarts’ daughter, the Crash Mage and the Card Mage smelled too similar apparently, how the other three Dragon Slayers hadn’t caught on to that fact amazed Freed. Or maybe it was just Natsu that hadn’t caught on. Gajeel and Wendy were intelligent and had this thing called tact. Natsu was neither intelligent nor had tact.

Freed studied the Demon-Soul Take-Over Mage.

“Gavia? GaJu? Jujell?” Mirajane asked, a crazed smile plastered to her face.

“If you’re coming up with ship names wouldn’t it be better to ask Lucy?” Freed did not want the possible fallout of a terrible or embarrassing shipping name to be blamed on him.

“But she’s busy.” Mirajane’s smile, if anything, became more crazed.

Freed shuddered. _Mirajane will never not be frightening why is it so goddamn sexy?_ “I’ve always been partial to Juvial. Like ‘jovial’.”

Mirajane lost her smile, cocked her head to the side, brows furrowed, mouth pulled into a small pouting frown.

_Oh, no! what have I done?_ Freed began frantically trying to make eye contact with Lucy. If there was anybody that could calm Mirajane down after a terrible shipping name suggestion it would be Lucy.

“You know Freed,” Mirajane started slowly. “I love that.” The smile she flashed was less crazed, approval of the Rune Mage’s suggestion lacing her voice.

_Oh, thank god._ Freed cleared his throat. “I’m glad you approve.”

Mirajane giggled, Freed blushed, both watched as Happy launched himself at Bickslow’s head, taking the opportunity to tease the Seith and Celestial Mage.

#

Laxus decided that next town he stopped at he would purchase multipurpose shoes. Trekking through the desert was fine. Trekking through the desert and having to deal with sand getting in his shoes and socks was not fine. It was really fucking irksome.

And to top off the shit sandwich that was his life in a desert, Laxus had woken up with a bad feeling, a stone at the pit of his stomach. Something awful was going to happen, he just knew it.

#

Gray cursed himself. He should’ve told Lyon how he felt before he left. That way, the other Ice-Make Mage could think about his answer. But, nope, Gray just had to keep his feelings to himself. Whether it was fear of rejection or just plan stubbornness, he wasn’t sure.

But at the moment, even Lucy’s joking nature and seeing all his friends in happy couples couldn’t draw him out of the cloud of gloominess hovering about him.

_I should’ve told Lyon I’m in love with him. And when I get back, I will. Whether or not he rejects me is of no consequence, well, ok, it is, I’ll be absolutely heartbroken, but still. I gotta tell him._

Having made up his mind, Gray went back to studying the horizon.

#

Evergreen was not speaking to him. She had stared him down until he asked her to be his partner but then she just…. Elfman couldn’t even describe what she did. All the Fairy Mage was doing was acting like she was ignoring him. But Elfman could tell she was acutely aware of him.

_This is annoying?_ Elfman didn’t even know if it was annoying. He didn’t know a lot about females that weren’t related to him. Sure, he had spent time with Evergreen while they all watched horror movies at Lucy’s apartment but other than that, they didn’t really speak either.

Groaning in frustration, Elfman went back to ignoring his partner.


	16. Chapter 16

Laxus sat awkwardly in the camp, unsure of what to do. He had come to help with the fight against Grimoire Heart, felt like he was pulled to Tenrou. But now? Now he had no idea what to do.

#

Bickslow looked at his former leader and felt conflicted. On one hand, he was happy that his friend was back, but on the other hand he was still upset with Laxus about Fantasia.

“You should go talk to him, Bigsie.” Lucy touched Bickslow’s elbow.

Bickslow tore his gaze away from the Lightning Dragon Slayer to look at her, his future girlfriend -possibly. Not knowing what to say, his gaze went back to Laxus.

“Bigsie, I know you’re unsure of your feelings, but he’s hurting. He feels unwanted.” Lucy spoke softly, not wanting the Dragon Slayers to hear her.

Bickslow frowned. Laxus, feeling unwanted? That didn’t jive with what Bickslow knew of the guy.

“Go talk to him, Bigsie.” Lucy pushed the Seith Mage. “Work it out. I’ll be here if you need me, ok?”

Bickslow looked down at the blonde, met her beautiful chocolate brown eyes, saw the love, understanding, and concern swimming in those depths. “Really?”

“Really, really.” The small ‘Shrek’ quote coming from her lips gave Bickslow confidence he hadn’t been aware he was lacking.

Steeling himself, Bickslow went to talk to Laxus.

#

Laxus had overheard the blonde chick -what was her name? -tell Bickslow to come talk to him. Why would Bickslow listen to Blondie? Bickslow barely listened to Freed, or anybody. Laxus tried to ignore the conversation and avoid looking at Levy. If anything, his interest in Levy hadn’t dissipated and the Lightning Dragon Slayer felt weird about it.

He came back and everybody’s scent had changed. The Iron Dragon Slayer -whatever his name was -and the water chick shared each other’s scents. Natsu and Lisanna -she wasn’t dead after all- shared scents. Mirajane no longer smelled like she loved him. Cana acted like she was fine but something about her scent was reminiscent of heartbreak. Laxus didn’t see Mest anywhere although he did scent the man slightly on the tiniest Dragon Slayer. What was her name?

Since when did Fairy Tail get three Dragon Slayers? Fire, Iron, Air.

“Hey boss man.” Bickslow’s voice pulled Laxus out of his musings.

“Hey.” Laxus grunted. Laxus was rubbish at knowing how to apologize to people.

#

Lucy wanted to bang her head against a tree then bang Laxus’ and Bickslow’s heads together. The two men were being so dumb!

“Men!” Evergreen sniffed to Lucy’s right.

Lucy turned to look at the Fairy Mage. She and Lucy had never really talked, despite Lucy and Bickslow being best friends.

Evergreen noticed Lucy’s look, she smiled at the younger woman. “Those two have never knew how to communicate with each other.” She shrugged. “I’m unsure of why. But their friendship was always based off mutual understanding but with what Laxus pulled at Fantasia, that, well,” Evergreen paused, “understanding is going to take a while to get back.”

Lucy chewed her bottom lip, turning to look at the two men.

“You know what would help?” Evergreen side eyed the Celestial Mage slyly. _Please, fall for it._

“What?” Lucy looked earnestly at Evergreen. Lucy would do anything to help her friend.

“They need a common foe, to work together again.” Evergreen suggested.

Lucy frowned. “A common foe?” But they had just fought Grimoire Heart.

“An easy common foe. That Laxus can help Bickslow with.” Evergreen shrugged.

Lucy tilted her head to the side. “So Laxus can help Bickslow. Hmmm.”

Evergreen hid her smile, walking away. She really was brilliant sometimes.


End file.
